


Sun of Darkness

by Wookiesauntie70



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), star wars episode IX
Genre: Action/Adventure, Ben Solo/Rey Romance, Canon Typical Violence, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Kylo Ren/Ben Solo redemption, New Galactic Alliance, Reylo is the entire point of the last trilogy ;)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-04-05 04:22:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 34
Words: 54,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14036085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wookiesauntie70/pseuds/Wookiesauntie70
Summary: If ‘hope is like the sun,’ and Ben Solo’s ‘our last hope’, doesn’t that lead straight to redemption for the ‘last’ Skywalker? Here’s a bit of sappy fluffiness, along with some semblance of plot.Set just after TLJ, Kylo Ren fractures the First Order, intending to break the endless cycle of violence plaguing the galaxy.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> “Hope is like the sun. If you only believe it when you can see it, you’ll never make it through the night.”
> 
> Ben Solo is that dark hope for the entire galaxy—a truth only Rey can see.
> 
>  
> 
> Set just after TLJ

Rey froze as the unmistakable crimson blade hissed from behind her and crackled over her shoulder.

The Force had just brought the two of them together for the first time in the seven long days since the Battle of Crait.

Unfazed, Rey resolutely tilted her chin up and calmly turned to face her bondmate. Instead of meeting those fathomless dark eyes, she was greeted once again by Kylo Ren’s forbidding mask. The mask was useless between them; she could feel his fury and anguish coursing through the Force.

The instant he saw her face again Kylo’s anger subsided, but the hurt of her rejection remained. She had left him on his knees when he’d needed her most—his rage at Skywalker spent, and in its place a strangely echoing hollowness. Something inside him he didn’t have a name for had cried out for her not to leave him when she’d slammed that hatch door shut. 

So much light! It radiated from Rey’s Force presence. He couldn’t deny its call; to him she shone like the brightest of stars.

The heavy hilt of the angrily sputtering lightsaber clattered to the ground as Kylo abruptly deactivated it. His towering black-clad figure lurched to its knees before Rey, head bowed.

Neither dared do more than breathe.

With slightly trembling hands, Rey reached below that fearsome mask, nimble fingers deftly easing the latch mechanisms open. The clenched fists of its owner made no move to hinder her. Kylo’s shoulders stiffened slightly as Rey began carefully lifting the mask off, his hands moving to help hers as it finally came free.

His gloved hands dropped the mask of Kylo Ren and it clanged against the polished durasteel floor he still knelt upon. Rey gazed down at the top of his dark, tousled head. Hardly her usual vantage point when it came to Kylo Ren.

No reaction. He had closed his mind to her completely.

Tentatively she reached out to stroke a few strands of his silky black hair. It was such a contrast to the rest of him, that softness. Her fingertips grazed the stubble on his face as she tilted his face toward hers. His face—it looked as haggard and haunted as hers surely must.

He wouldn’t open his eyes.

But at her touch their souls crashed together through the Force. Anguish. Confusion. Sadness. Longing.

Kylo’s eyes flew open and met Rey’s. Kindred souls recognized an unfamiliar feeling as they fell into each others’ arms.

The Force connection snapped as outside voices intruded. They were, each of them, alone once again.


	2. Chapter 2

Furious at the glaring weakness he once again perceived within himself Kylo stood, chest heaving. He roared a command at the unfortunate junior officer who had distracted him enough to sever his Force interlude with the scavenger. The nervous lieutenant scurried away with as much dignity as he could muster.

Her! She, who had rejected him, had turned him down when he’d so recklessly offered her everything!

(She, who’d shut the Falcon’s hatch so firmly and had flown away. Leaving him behind. Abandoned. Again.)

She hadn’t truly come for him on the Supremacy, not at all! He reminded himself that she’d done it only in an attempt to turn him, to sway the tide in favour of the Resistance. She’d expected him to become something he wasn’t. 

Just like the rest of them.

The rage stoked by his anguish roiled out of him, clouding the Force around him with inky blackness.

He hadn’t put his arms around anyone else since he’d been a child. He hadn’t been touched at all since that night so long ago at Luke’s temple—except by pain. He was struggling to ignore how right it had felt when he’d swept the scavenger up and carried her all the way to his command shuttle after Force-stunning her on Takodana. When he had remembered himself in time to set her down—gently—only once she was safely in his keeping. As for the moment their fingertips had touched in the firelight—he had no words to properly describe what had hummed between them—and then she had rejected him, along with all that the Force had promised. When she’d stood with him in Snoke’s throne room, just as he had foreseen, he had felt centred as never before even as an almost overwhelming energy had crackled between them. 

The feeling of belonging that had washed over him when they’d been together just now—its pull was so alluring. That terrified him.

Snoke had shown him time and again how yielding to the light would weaken him. That he had felt such peace with Rey was unnerving; there was too much darkness in him for his path to ever lead fully to the light, this he knew. Conflict within him between the two sides of his nature had only ever led to more pain. Surely she was a danger to him, she who sought to turn him instead of accepting him as he was. Turning to the light had never meant peace for him. He knew he’d raged that he meant to destroy her, along with everything else...yet Snoke’s voice was no longer in his head.

Darkness and light were at war within his soul like never before. He was lost.

“And you called her MY ‘chosen one’?’” The luminous blue figure of his uncle Luke materialized, eyebrows raised.

“I am not in the mood for this, old man!”

“She attacked me, you know. Demanded to know the truth of that night at the temple. The night I failed you completely. You should have seen her chase me around with that staff of hers. When I sent it flying, she actually threatened me with the lightsaber! You have quite the champion.” 

Luke smiled wryly at the recollection. He could feel his nephew’s shock. 

“She dances effortlessly between the dark and the light. Have you realized that? Intuitively. No one has taught her to fear the light as you do, or the darkness as I have. You are right. The old ways have to die.

By the way, all I actually chose was to refuse to teach her much of anything at all.”

Kylo stood dumbfounded as his Uncle’s ghost winked out.


	3. Chapter 3

Chewie’s astounding piloting skill had played no small part in the survival of the Resistance and his smugglers’ savvy had proven every bit as valuable in the tension-fraught days since Crait.

Refuelling, replenishing provisions, finding bolt holes and obscure hyperspace lanes—-all were somehow accomplished by the resourceful Wookiee despite the enormous bounty on the Falcon and everyone aboard. Helping Leia navigate her grief was another matter entirely. His own could wait.

Leia kept her feelings closely guarded from everyone save Chewie. The stoic Wookiee was deeply troubled. Although the Princess did so much to boost the flagging morale of those who relied on her he feared her own health would not outlast that of the Resistance. Her miraculous, Force-enabled survival was only temporary; radiation poisoning had weakened her beyond what any power in the galaxy could heal. Chewie idly stroked a Porg as he pondered the situation. 

 

Tucked away on an uninhabited green moon, those who had survived the frantic flight from Crait enjoyed a brief respite from the overcrowded, Porg-infested interior of the Millennium Falcon.

Tales of Luke Skywalker’s solo confrontation with the First Order had spread like wildfire through the galaxy. Rumblings of a groundswell of support for the Resistance had quickly followed.

They were to rendezvous with Snap Wexley, who was organizing some of their new allies at a secure location, in less than 24 standard hours. Then Leia, Poe and a handful of others were to head to Naboo for secret meetings with the Queen.

The Falcon had put down in a clearing near a rocky outcrop in the middle of the vast temperate forest covering the surface of this tiny moon.

Rey was anxious to clear her head and have the privacy to reflect on her latest meeting with Kylo Ren. She scrambled up the rocky incline before any of her new friends could ask her to join them.

Perched on a narrow ledge, she could spy Finn fussing over Rose. The spunky engineer was well on her way to recovery thanks to Rey’s first attempt at Force healing. Poe and a few others were making some sort of seating arrangement from crates they had scrounged from inside the Falcon.

Poe. Handsome, charming. A good man. He’d made it very clear how much he enjoyed Rey’s company.

 

When she reached the flatter area at the top of the enormous outcrop Rey began routine sparring exercises with her staff. It was a relief to escape the press of minds and bodies on the Falcon. She was more accustomed to a lifetime of solitude.

The two halves of the kyber crystal she and Kylo had split when they had destroyed the Skywalker lightsaber were safely tucked into a tiny pouch at her waist.

Memories of Snoke’s throne room were still seared into her mind and she had begun having terrible nightmares, nightmares howling with excruciating pain and torture. She felt certain that she was somehow reliving Kylo’s experiences at the hands of his former master. She wasn’t sure how or why this was happening. It was almost as if the Force were trying to rekindle her compassion for him. She wondered how Kylo ever slept.

She marvelled that he had done as much as survive.

Rey had come to understand that she was meant to wait and learn what the Force intended for Kylo Ren. She knew she had always been good at waiting—and she was even better at salvaging broken things. However, Kylo Ren was clearly much too broken for her to fix. She wondered if the Force meant to. 

Rey had briefly considered making an end of him on the Supremacy when he had lain unconscious at her feet. Instead she had known she couldn’t—it was not her place.

Yet now she had embraced him without the slightest hesitation and knew it was pointless to deny it had felt like the stars themselves were singing.

She really, really needed to clear her head. Thoughts in a jumble, she sat down cross-legged on the cool stone and proceeded to try.

 

+++

What was she sensing? A sudden awareness of danger prickled and her eyes flew open at the warning. 

Two black-clad figures wearing masks eerily similar to Kylo Ren’s were striding purposefully toward her from the far side of the plateau.

Who were they?

When they ignited red lightsabers and assumed battle stances she had little doubt of their intentions. She tamped down a momentary feeling of panic and instinctively reached out for the Force.

As the first masked figure lunged forward, Rey whirled and sent her staff swiping at her assailant’s knees, knocking him off balance. A Force push sent her second attacker flying, but Rey knew she was in serious peril without a lightsaber.

She shrieked as she thrust and leaped, but before long a swipe of the shorter attacker’s blade sheared off the end of her trusty staff. 

Her battle cries had attracted the attention of the Resistance members in the clearing below but she could spare no thought for them.

Rey resorted to picking up nearby boulders and flung them at her attackers. The powerful opponents she faced sidestepped her missiles with ease.

 

From across the stars Kylo felt Rey’s momentary panic as if it were his own.

WAS SHE IN DANGER?

The Force connection flared open between them and Kylo could actually see Rey holding her ground against two of the deadly Knights of Ren. Despite her incredible power he knew she was ultimately doomed without a lightsaber.

NO! His mind screamed. REY! TAKE MINE!

His words echoed in Rey’s mind. Without stopping to wonder if it might even work, she grabbed for the saber Kylo Ren was suddenly holding out to her.

THEY WILL WORK TOGETHER TO TIRE YOU. YOU MUST END THIS QUICKLY.

Kylo had sparred with Rey’s assailants countless times. All of what he could share rushed through their incredible link to aid his bondmate.

With the massive hilt of that distinctive lightsaber firmly in her grip, Rey became a whirling marvel. Kylo’s saber seemed to growl as she thrust and parried.

Awed by what they were witnessing, the Resistance members gathered in the clearing below watched in stunned silence as Rey battled her assailants.

Rey had felt shock from her attackers when they’d realized she was somehow brandishing Kylo Ren’s distinctive blade. She’d had the element of surprise on her side and had proceeded to make the most of it.

+++

It was over. 

Breathing heavily, Rey switched off the crackling saber and turned to where she had last glimpsed Kylo.

His long face was pale and solemn. Sunken eyes regarded hers and he moved within a step or two of Rey.

“These two were Knights of Ren. There are six others; I will recall them to the Finalizer and discover their loyalties. In the meantime, your Force presence—-you need to learn how to turn it down. You shine like a beacon.”

“Will you show me how?”

He nodded, bridging the distance between them and softly touching his fingertips to her temple. That knowledge was now hers.

“Thank you”, she whispered. She held his saber toward him, meaning to return it.

He turned and stepped away from her.

“I will not have you defenceless ,” he said quietly.

Rey was about to reply when Poe Dameron rushed forward and swept her up in his arms. He twirled her around in delight, completely oblivious to Kylo’s silent Force presence.

“Rey, honey! You are amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it! You’re like something out of a holovid!”

Finn was beside them in a moment. He and Poe had scrambled up the incline to the rocky plateau during the final moments of the blazing lightsaber duel. 

Finn looked dazed and more than a little puzzled.

“Where did you get that lightsaber? It looks like...Kylo Ren’s.”

Rey’s eyes sought Kylo’s just a few metres away. To Finn and Poe, it merely seemed as though her thoughts were far away.

“The Force brought it to me.”

Kylo’s face was blank as he severed the connection.


	4. Chapter 4

They had hurriedly boarded the Falcon and fled to their rendezvous point after the attack by the Knights of Ren. For now the Resistance and their new allies were safely tucked away into an old Rebel Alliance hideout, the location of which Ackbar and Leia had had the foresight to keep from the New Republic’s official records. 

Finn had insisted that Rey’s mysterious assailants had indeed been the dreaded Knights of Ren. That had spared Rey the necessity of much explanation. Apparently the Knights were so feared that even senior First Order officers spoke of them in hushed tones.

Rey was grateful the others had accepted her tale of how the cross guarded lightsaber had made its way to her in the midst of battle. Leia and Chewie knew the truth. However, they had been her only confidantes in the matter of her bond with Kylo. Not that she could bring herself to share all that had transpired between them—some of it was just too raw. The three of them were in full agreement that no one else should be privy to knowledge of the bond.

Rey was anxious, as the passing of the lightsaber through the bond and the fact that her immediate surroundings were now visible to Kylo meant that their connection had strengthened to the point where it could become a liability. While he had acted to protect Rey from the Knights on this occasion, his volatility meant that the security of the Resistance could easily be compromised in the event that he chose to exploit the connection. 

Leia had been in meetings all day, leaving Chewbacca and Rey to themselves and to the maintenance of the Falcon. The Wookiee had agreed with Rey’s conclusion that it would be safer for everyone if she confined herself to the ship and to the forest, once it was dark, in order to conceal their current location from the Supreme Leader of the First Order.

After a long day of fretting over her Force bond and dealing with the persnickety Falcon Rey made her way to her bunk. She felt badly that Chewie would probably be subjected to yet another round of her new and perfectly bloodcurdling nightmares. She hadn’t exactly let others get much sleep lately—-not if she was doing any sleeping at the same time! Small wonder that her reflection looked a tad frightening. Mercifully enough the rest of the survivors of Crait were bunked in quarters well away from the hangar the Falcon occupied.

Chewbacca had gruffly waved away her attempt to apologize for the disturbances. He rumbled that Ben Solo had endured nightmares nearly every night of his childhood. Chewie apparently considered himself an old hand at comforting ‘little ones’ afflicted by Force terrors.

Artoo powered himself down and the porgs were snug in their improvised nests—all except for the chubby pair Rey had to nudge out of her bunk before crawling into it. She kept Kylo’s saber close at hand. 

Rey drifted off to sleep easily enough. Sheer exhaustion generally had that effect on a person. Before long, the nightmarish visions she’d been dreading invaded her mind. Was she herself in these dreams, or was she Ben Solo? Terror and torture were her invisible companions again this night.

Chewie sighed and quietly made his way to the doorway of Rey’s quarters as her night terrors began in earnest. Sure enough, his newly adopted little one was bathed in perspiration and screaming as though her life were ending.

Not much could shock Chewbacca, but when Kylo Ren suddenly materialized in the bunk beside Rey the Wookiee’s fur nearly stood on end. He watched as Kylo bent his dark head to whisper reassurances into her ear. Kylo’s hand began gently stroking Rey’s hair, and before long her terrors subsided and she slept peacefully. Her breathing became quiet and even.

Kylo had been equally stunned to discover himself next to Rey. He had just begun drifting off for the night in his new chambers aboard the Finalizer when he felt the familiar tremble in the Force that heralded their connections. He had known instantly what torments Rey had been experiencing the echoes of in her nightmare; her mind was fully open to him in sleep and he was mortified to learn what she was seeing. Rey was gaining intimate knowledge of the depths of his suffering and humiliation at Snoke’s hands. 

Something inside of him recognized that he needed her Light to stay bright. He pushed calming thoughts to her through the Force. How was he doing this? Peace and calm were hardly familiar to him, yet just now they swirled around him in abundance.

Kylo panicked; surely Rey would be horrified if she were to wake and discover a monster next to her. He dreaded seeing the expression that would inevitably cross her face should she learn of his presence right beside her while she slept. Surely his own feelings were simply being projected back at him when they’d held each other so briefly after she’d taken off his mask...and then there was the familiar way the pilot had twirled her around in jubilation after the duel...he’d been right there, it had happened right before his eyes. 

He had never had the chance to do that...but belatedly, he realized he had. He’d been so stunned after their throne room battle that it hadn’t occurred to him to reach for her, just her, right away in the aftermath of what they had been through together. Of course, it went without saying that her first priority had been the Resistance fleet. She hadn’t rushed into his arms either. She had rushed instead to the oculus field to see how many transports were left. 

It was too late for all of that, surely. She’d never been his to lose. Why regret what could not be?

His face softened, and he found he couldn’t help himself. He loosely draped his arm around Rey’s sleeping form and tucked her head under his chin. Damn the consequences. He would allow himself this much.

He fell asleep almost immediately. For the first time in ages, Kylo Ren had a deep, dreamless sleep.

Chewie stood vigil in the doorway, watching in silence as the pair curled toward each other in sleep. Centuries of observing human behaviour had not prepared him for this. Kylo had completely ignored the lightsaber within easy reach. He certainly didn’t appear to mean Rey any harm. 

A faint hope began to stir in the stoic Wookiee’s heart, hope for the still beloved nephew he had assumed had been lost forever. He would tell Leia. Chewie shuffled back to his quarters. Strange were the ways of the Force.

And so Rey slept, cradled in Kylo’s arms—a bright star surrounded by velvety darkness.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we lose our Princess.

Rey sat hunched over one of the dusty tomes she had stolen away with her as she’d left Ahch-to; she wished she had someone to discuss it with. Actually, she knew precisely who she wanted to discuss it with. Pity the bond wouldn’t just open when it was convenient. Then again, perhaps it wasn’t the wisest move to let him know she had the texts to begin with. 

‘The difference, they say,  
Is only made right  
By resolving of grey  
Through refined Jedi sight.’

Well, she didn’t think there was anything particularly refined about her ‘sight’, and she certainly couldn’t call herself a Jedi. She was no scholar, either. She’d never had even the semblance of a formal education. According to Leia, her son had always had his nose in a book when he was young. Perhaps he would have appreciated the chance to study these.

Grey. The only other time she’d seen anything grey in relation to the Jedi was in the mosaic on the floor of the First Jedi Temple on the island. The seated figure in its centre had been grey, and had been holding a sword that had evenly bisected the black and white sections of the disc surrounding it. 

Sighing, she finished twining lengths of copper wire around the shards of kyber crystal from the ruined Skywalker lightsaber. She’d wrapped a length of wire around each one, but had finally decided to bind them together with a third length of wire and string them onto a hair tie as a pendant. She smiled to herself at the notion of the kyber seeming happier that way. As if something like a crystal could possibly be unhappy in a perfectly good waist pouch to begin with.

Rey yawned and decided to head to the forest for some fresh air now that it was dark. She’d meant to talk to Leia about leaving the Resistance for a time, but the General had looked terribly exhausted when she’d stopped by the Falcon earlier in the evening to share a cup of tea with Chewie. Endless strategizing with the new chain of command was clearly taking its toll. Even so, the visit must have done her some good because she had somehow looked a little brighter as she’d departed for her quarters in their new base. She’d pulled Rey into a tight embrace as she left. Rey had felt a sense of foreboding; Leia’s Force presence was flickering oddly.

Rey sat for awhile, simply admiring the starry night sky overhead. The moon was nearly full, meaning she had plenty of light when she began her usual sparring exercises. She’d fashioned a crude replacement for her ruined staff from a length of wood she’d scrounged from one of the Falcon’s cargo bays. Kylo’s saber felt alive at her hip, almost as if it were asking to be unclipped from her belt. He still hadn’t come for it. 

It was very late. She felt restless.

The moon was high in the night sky when the shimmering figure of Luke Skywalker joined her in the clearing.

“Rey. It’s Leia.”

Rey understood at once, racing back to the base and through the quiet corridors until she reached Leia’s quarters. She’d never visited there, of course; not in her self-imposed exile to the Falcon and the night’s sheltering darkness. The Force guided her footsteps to Leia’s side. There she lay in silence, her eyes closed. Rey could sense that she was fading rapidly, so she took her hand and sent a pulse of love and gratitude through the Force to the woman she had come to care for so quickly.

Luke’s luminous figure joined them.

Somehow Rey had expected her connection with Kylo to flare open at that very moment and it did just that. Here he was, beside her now. With mixed emotions she clasped his hand firmly in the hope that his mother would be able to sense her son’s presence through their bond.

She needn’t have worried; mother and son had finally sought and found each other from opposite ends of the galaxy. Rey could feel Kylo’s longing and regret, but most of all, his love for the mother he was taken away from far too early—-love he had spent so much of his life trying to burn away because of the pain it had caused him when he’d felt abandoned.

She knew. Leia Organa sensed him at once, and Kylo was stunned to discover that after all he had done and all that he had destroyed, her love for him had remained. It was so clear to him now; clearer than when he’d had the bridge of the Raddus in his sights, burning with fury, and had felt how much she feared for him. 

“I didn’t take that shot, Mama...I couldn’t...I’m so sorry, for Dad, for everything...I love you.” His voice trailed off.

He was seeing himself through her eyes now, first as a chubby infant, then as a giggling toddler. Later on as a troubled young boy she had so many hopes and fears for. She had been so afraid for him, had felt so much guilt...

He had killed his own father, yet his mother loved him still. It seemed incredible. He was utterly unworthy of it, he knew, but he felt the truth of it. She had always, always wanted him back. How had he not known?

“My son.” She wordlessly breathed it through the Force to him. “I love you.”

“I know.” But how was it that he hadn’t always known?

His mother took her last breath with her hand in his. Leia, Princess of Alderaan, became one with the Force.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our lost one sees the light, of course. Took him long enough.

He shattered. 

How had he not always known?

Other memories were rushing into his mind now that the dam had burst. How he’d trailed his father, laughingly holding those golden dice, insisting he would grow up to be a pilot just like his daddy. He saw himself perched on his uncle Chewie’s shoulders, shrieking with delight after having been swung through the air. Uncle Luke, his eyes twinkling, was praising him for how effortlessly he’d made a tiny toy ship fly around the room. They’d all loved him. They hadn’t known what to do with him, but the memories that continued to rush in proved that they’d never stopped giving a damn...

They’d thrown him away like garbage, they’d eventually rejected him because he could never eradicate the darkness inside himself...that was what that voice inside him had always whispered. That reassuring voice, always insisting there was another path for him, a path that was not for the weak...Snoke’s insistent words, praising a vulnerable young child who had grown afraid of himself. Who had always felt that being ripped away from his mother and sent for the training meant to guide him had instead been punishment for not living up to his legendary family’s expectations. That whispering voice had left him when he’d killed Snoke, but it had only resulted in total conflict and confusion within him.

What else had been taken from him?

He wondered. He wondered what exactly Snoke had done to his memories, or if had he somehow always known the truth but had locked it all away. The very words he’d said to Rey...

Not that it mattered. He had become the monster everyone had feared he would, himself included. Ben had destroyed everything he’d ever loved. Snoke had reassured him that channeling his hate and anger to harness the dark side of the Force would bring him strength; that being too full of darkness to ever be a Jedi was something worthy of praise, not revulsion.

In his own mind Ben had convinced himself that he would use his growing powers to bring a new order to a chaotic, unruly galaxy—yes—but at the heart of everything had been his desperation to end the agony of the conflict within himself. He had become so enslaved that he had sacrificed everything...even those who would have given anything to have him back.

The memory of his father’s hand on his cheek after he’d run him through with the saber...Snoke had been right when he’d said that killing his father had cut him to the bone. His unravelling had begun on that bridge on the Starkiller. 

What order could he possibly bring to anything when in truth he was a broken thing, a blight on everyone and everything? He was a monster whose crimes were heinous and unforgivable.

What was left of Ben Solo had finally crawled out of the shell he’d named Kylo Ren, only to shrink from the light.

He was monstrous. He’d always believed that.

He wished he’d gone home with his father, only now there was no going home. 

He had nothing. He was worse than nothing. The beliefs he’d devoted most of his life to had been a lie. 

His true self was burning to cinders in the light.


	7. Chapter 7

He was not alone.

After a moment he also realized that he was sprawled face down on the enormous bed in his sparsely furnished Supreme Leader’s chambers and that Rey was gently stroking his hair, a neutral expression on her face as she watched him intently.

He hadn’t even known that she was there, just as he hadn’t realized she’d been aboard the Falcon when he’d ordered it shot down from the skies over Crait. 

“How is it that you can even bear to look at me?” he choked, turning his head away from her and staring blankly out at the stars beyond the viewport that dominated the room.

Rey finally broke the long silence.

“How is it that you’ve survived? Leia told me that Snoke had his claws into you from the time you were a child, perhaps even since before you were born. And somehow I’ve been inside your head, so I know it’s the truth. Ben, Snoke did a masterful job of manipulating all of your insecurities, your loneliness, your feelings of abandonment. Your mother told me how sensitive you were as a child. I doubt that’s ever changed. What match could a frightened, misunderstood young boy be for someone like him? He took your fears, your anger, and turned it into hate. He forged you into a deadly weapon he wielded for his own ends. Now you have ended him. You are free.”

“Free? I will never be free. I can't hear his voice in my head anymore but I can never be free of this pain. It has always been inside me, and pain is all I’ve ever caused anyone around me. Now that Snoke is gone, it’s all I can feel...it’s like the entire galaxy is writhing in agony...there is so much of it on this ship alone!”

Ben’s massive frame was curled into a ball as he lay on his side. Rey could feel his efforts to wrestle with the agony and self loathing that coursed through him, and his knuckles were white with the anger that crackled through the Force around him. It was anger at himself, and it was in danger of erupting.

Rey had finished her waiting.

“Ben.”

He made an effort to collect himself and looked up.

“This is yours”.

Rey undid the kyber pendant from around her neck and handed it to Ben. His brow furrowed in puzzlement and he sat up. This close to him she could see how deeply her lightsaber had scarred his alabaster skin. She could also see a myriad of faint scars etched all over his torso, the history of his torture at Snoke’s hands written all over his body. It hadn’t occurred to her until just now that he’d been shirtless this entire time and she felt her cheeks turning pink.

“It looks broken.”

“It is. We cracked it in half when we broke the lightsaber.”

“That’s impossible.”

He took it and carefully unwound the wire binding the two halves of the crystal together, examining both pieces closely. He held one half in each palm, astounded.

“We did this?”

“You say it’s impossible.”

He shook his head when she offered to tie the crystals around his neck.

“Fine then,” she relented, when she saw that accepting it as it was made him uncomfortable. “But it seems to me that the Force meant one half for you and the other for me. It’s not as if I can make a lightsaber from these anyway.”

Rey took her last hair tie and threaded the piece without a tie onto it, fastening it around her neck and the other pendant around Ben’s. He made no objection this time. Surely he could also feel the energy that nearly crackled between them when her fingers brushed his skin. 

He was staring out the viewport again.

“Ben Solo”, she whispered. 

“What if you were never meant to leave with me that day on the Supremacy any more than I was meant to leave the Resistance and join you? You are the last Skywalker. You rule the First Order, and in doing so you are in the position to effect greater change than your mother, your uncle or your grandfather before you. You feel the suffering and discord of the galaxy. Maybe you were always meant to be the one to end it.”

He looked at her mutely, loving how beautifully her loose hair framed her face. He felt dazed. 

“You cannot change the past”, Rey continued. “But perhaps it is time for you to open yourself to the Force. To all of it. To let the Light in, too. Ben, let the Force show you what you were born to do. Let it show you your destiny.” She looked at him intently before finishing: “That’s the only way you can become who you were meant to be.”

He recognized those words. He saw the calm conviction in her eyes. He looked at Rey, so fiercely courageous, this radiant young woman who had thrown caution to the wind and come to him on the Supremacy because she’d believed in him in a way no one else in his life ever had. This time, he would get it right.

His eyes held hers for the longest time.

“Will you help me, Rey? Please”, he whispered.

He felt her answer in the Force before she voiced it aloud.


	8. Chapter 8

They’d fallen asleep after that with the stars winking at them from beyond the enormous viewport that dominated the newly minted Supreme Leader’s chambers.

Rey awoke to feel the unfamiliar weight of a very muscular arm draped around her. She decided that was an even lovelier sensation that of the luxuriously silky sheets she was currently cocooned in, and she snuggled closer to Ben’s warmth. Surprisingly enough her predicament didn’t seem remotely bizarre or uncomfortable.

“Rey”. Her breath caught at the sound of her name on his lips. Ben had immediately shifted away from her. His eyes sought hers. It occurred to Rey at that moment that if eyes really were windows to the soul, then his was truly beautiful. The recognition of it pained her all the more, knowing all that he had suffered. 

“I’ve been meaning to tell you. The Force has been bringing us together at night. I’ve felt you having nightmares and then somehow I’m there beside you...like we were just now. And then..when you aren’t troubled any longer, I’ve always stayed. I’m not certain how, but I’ve always stayed. Just to make sure you were alright.”

He looked decidedly embarrassed. Rey couldn’t tear her gaze away from those eyes of his; it felt as though they saw into the depths of her being.

“Thank you for chasing my nightmares away, then”, she replied softly.

His eyes held hers for what seemed like ages. Then he snorted. The spell was broken.

“That’s only fair considering I’m probably the one who’s been giving them to you to begin with.”

Rey looked at him, thoughtful.

Ben’s eyes widened and he sat bolt upright. Rey’s eyes widened too, although for an entirely different reason; it was suddenly very apparent that the man next to her still wasn’t wearing a shirt, and for some reason she felt like she could barely breathe.

“Rey. You’re still here”. 

Rey gulped. Ben’s voice was like velvet and was every bit as beautiful as his eyes.

“Of course I am. You’re not alone, remember?”

“No, I mean you are still here. Actually here, as opposed to being somewhere else at the same time.”

And so she was. 

“Well, once upon a time you did ask me to join you.” Rey kept her tone deliberately light; she knew how deeply her rejection of him in Snoke’s throne room had wounded him.

“Not like this! We have to get you out of here.” Ben stood up and began pacing the length of the room, looking for all the galaxy like some sort of caged panther. Rey found herself admiring the view; she had never seen him quite so undressed before and she could feel her cheeks turning pink again. 

Meanwhile, the Supreme Leader looked flustered. After another moment he sighed and sat down next to her.

“I’ll have my shuttle prepared and I’ll take you back myself. Not to the Resistance base, of course. But somewhere neutral where it will not be difficult for them to retrieve you.”

Rey gazed at him levelly, saying nothing.

“You are not safe here yet. I am not firmly in control of the First Order. And I’ve let it be known that you killed Snoke and his guards.”

Rey raised her eyebrows.

“Thank you very little!”

“It seemed like the most sensible course of action at the time.”

 

He left the room briefly, returning from what must have been a kitchen with two steaming mugs of something that turned out to be indescribably delicious and a platter of fruits and cheeses that he invited her to sample while he made preparations to get her to safety. She’d never tasted anything so wonderful. It was quite a change from what she’d eaten on Jakku or even with the Resistance. 

He returned a short time later, fully clothed in his Supreme Leader’s regalia and with a cloak and mask bundled under his arm.

He handed another very familiar black and silver mask to her.

“You have got to be joking!” Rey exclaimed. The corner of Ben’s mouth lifted as he recognized the absurdity of what he was suggesting.

“We need to get you to my shuttle undetected, or at least disguised. If you wear the cloak with the hood up, all anyone will notice is a hooded figure in a dark mask walking beside the Supreme Leader and heading who-knows-where. Believe me when I tell you they’ll be so relieved we’re not heading toward them that they’ll look anywhere but right at us. Although I must say, you’re a little short for a Knight of Ren.”

He looked like he was fighting the urge to grin at her. In fact, he looked like an entirely different person.

Rey pursed her lips, fastened the cloak and plunked the menacing helmet over her head.

“This is dreadful!” she exclaimed through the voice modulator. Ben pulled her hood up to nearly obscure the mask.

She handed him back his lightsaber, which she’d unclipped from her belt during the night, and he accepted it back without argument. As she moved to pull on the sturdy brown boots she’d also removed, she heard him asking if they fit properly. He told her they’d been his once.

The boots she’d worn when she’d gone to the Supremacy had actually belonged to him? Her own had been waterlogged, so Chewie had shown her to an old storage locker and...

“And the tunic you’re wearing under that—er—drapery? I recognize that, too. And that is definitely my old belt. I really liked that belt. I must say that it was—-odd—to see you wearing all of this when you showed up in that escape pod.”

Or coffin. He’d remembered praying that it wouldn’t turn out to be more of a coffin for her. When he’d first glimpsed her through the glass he’d caught his breath, thinking she’d looked just like a fairy princess from one of the storybooks his mother used to read to him so long ago on Chandrila. Back when she used to tell him that he was actually a prince.

Rey finished pulling on the boots in question.

“Ready?”, he asked.

Rey nodded and they strode toward the hangar bay where Ben’s shuttle was docked. They had only slept for a short time and the early hour meant that only a skeleton crew was on duty. Those who encountered them truly did do everything they could to avoid their notice as subtly as possible.

It would have been almost comical if it hadn’t been so sad.

**I see your reputation precedes you** she said wordlessly through their bond.

**Indeed. If they only knew how ferocious you are!** She could sense the smile behind his thoughts.

**Ben—**

**Yes. The answer is yes. You’d like to see the bridge of a fully operational Star Destroyer for once in your life, just to compare it to the insides of the rusting hulks you’ve spent the better part of your life scrounging parts from back on Jakku. It’s not far, as I’m certain you’ve already ascertained. Lead on, Scavenger. We have time.**

That’s when it dawned on her that the Force must have been giving him the same insights into her life as she’d gained of his. It was startling, how intricately they were being linked through this bond of theirs. 

**I know** So they were constantly reading each others’ thoughts now, just like that?

**I don’t think so. We’ve never been able to tell each other anything but the truth, and we are projecting our thoughts at the moment without any sort of effort. But I doubt we would be able to do this mind reading bit without mutual consent. Although we did this and more when you tangled with those Knights. We can test that as we travel if you wish.** 

 

+

The bridge was a sight to behold. A thrill went through Rey as they swept up the gleaming centre aisle of the bridge, heading straight for the panoramic viewport that afforded an absolutely breathtaking vista of the cosmos. Rey was awed by the sight of the mighty ship’s prow against the backdrop of the stars. It was a truly beautiful sight,and the bridge staff were so intent on avoiding Kylo Ren’s gaze that they missed seeing the shorter cloaked figure reach for the gloved hand of their new Supreme Leader and give it a brief squeeze in thanks.

+

They made their way to the shuttle and launched without incident before contacting Chewie on the Falcon. By Rey’s calculations it was still well before dawn on the planet that was home to the Resistance base. It was altogether possible that no one yet knew of Leia’s passing.

Fortunately they were able to reach him and arrange a rendezvous scheduled for five hours from then. They would reach the neutral destination much earlier than the Falcon.

Ben glanced over at Rey, who had removed the mask but was still huddled in his cloak for warmth.

A few hours ahead of the Falcon. That gave Ben an idea.


	9. Chapter 9

Both of them were quiet during the journey to the rendezvous point. Ben focussed on piloting the shuttle and Rey huddled beneath the borrowed cloak. Occasionally one of them would send a message in the other’s direction. They’d experimented and discovered they could indeed keep their thoughts private if they made a conscious effort to keep their minds shuttered. They wondered if physical proximity affected this newfound ability to effortlessly sense what the other was thinking.

**Space is cold, isn’t it** he sent to her.

**It’s certainly not Jakku**

Ben noticed that Rey’s complexion was less sun-kissed now that she’d been out of the desert sun for a few weeks. It seemed incredible to him that they’d only known each other that long; it felt more like a lifetime. He was glad the dark circles under her beautiful hazel eyes had faded. He was being careful to guard his thoughts; innocent as these were, an alarming number of others were constantly crossing his mind. He wondered if she’d ever been kissed. Among other things.

**Has anyone ever given you a gift, Rey?**

Rey thought of the gift of Finn’s friendship, so readily given, and...

**Nothing so profound as that, Scavenger. You need a decent cloak. And maybe a pair of boots that actually fit you properly. And a warmer tunic, one with actual sleeves. You’ve done so much to help me, more than you know. And I’m reasonably certain you have never been given anything brand new, something meant just for you, in your entire life. Would you allow me to do you one small kindness?**

She made sure to guard her surprise. The man had saved her life twice, twice she had come within a hair’s breadth of actually making an end of him, yet here he was wanting to thank her for having helped him by buying her some boots? When she didn’t answer, he spoke aloud:

“There is a fairly large merchant’s quarter near the spaceport. Very few people have seen me without a mask at this point; you will not be recognized as having been in my company. This shuttle has no markings to distinguish it from any other First Order shuttle. You could easily tell the others that you found everything in some long-forgotten smuggling compartment on the Falcon.”

Rey could see the change in his posture as he sat at the shuttle’s controls, almost as if he were bracing himself for rejection. She felt a wall building in the link between them.

“Thank you. That is a very kind thought. Besides, it would be nice to see a bit of a planet other than Jakku.”

She saw his shoulders relax.

******

He’d convinced her to choose herself boots,a cloak and a tunic with matching leggings. She’d gravitated toward a blue-grey ensemble that reminded her of the colour of the sea on Ahch-to.

*I wonder if I’ll ever get to see the island, *he sent to her. He pictured the island he’d glimpsed in her mind. Then he pictured what he’d seen in her mind just before that moment between them in the interrogation room and felt heat begin to rise inside him. He swallowed, just as he had then, and made damn sure his thoughts were completely guarded.

Rey smiled at him, innocently unaware of the direction his thoughts were taking.

******

It was time to return Rey to the Resistance and Ben’s emotions were roiling. He’d known perfectly well that his uncle Chewie had been on the Falcon when he’d ordered that squadron of TIEs after it. Ben had killed his own father, the Wookie’s best friend. Chewie’d shot him for it but had missed the shot and had only wounded him. Ben found himself wishing the Wookie’s aim had been truer. Despair, shame and self-loathing poured out of him and into the Force around him.

Rey felt it immediately and reached out to grab his hand. She held it firmly the entire way to the Falcon’s docking bay.

It was time for his atonement to begin.

The Falcon’s ramp was already lowered. Rey started up, making her way to the top. She turned and looked down at him. It felt like he was seeing her on Crait all over again, and that at any moment she was going to slam the hatch shut on him. Shame and panic coursed around him as he stood at the bottom of the lowered ramp.

“This is not goodbye. Chewie wants to see you”, she said, beckoning for him to follow her.

He was following her this time. He fought the sudden wild urge to ask her to fly away with him, just the two of them, to somewhere where no one would ever know what sins he’d committed, what evil he’d done in the name of a misguided faith.

No, he was not about to do that. He had to face Chewbacca. Even if he deserved to have his arms ripped off, followed by his head.

Tears in his eyes and with head bowed in shame, Ben Solo made his way up the boarding ramp of his murdered father’s ship. When he made it to the top, great hairy arms swept him up and he was shaken like a rag doll. He nearly choked as his uncle enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug that made him feel like he was six years old again.

It seemed impossible, but Chewie still loved him, too.

*******

They’d sat together for a time after giving Chewie the news about Leia. Chewie had already made arrangements for provisions to be sent to the Falcon so that he could justify his unscheduled disappearance from the base. Ben had insisted on paying for them and had promptly ordered even more supplies to be packed into the Falcon’s hold. The Supreme Leader of the First Order had just technically aided and abetted the Resistance committed to destroying its very existence. Rey and Chewie exchanged glances but refrained from making any comment. 

Rey walked him to the hatch when it was time for departure.

**This is not goodbye. You are not alone. **

He said nothing, just closing his eyes. He felt her lips gently brush his.

**Thank you, Rey**

She was his salvation.

He descended and watched the Falcon take to the skies.

*****

Leia’s funeral took place two days later. So many had gathered to pay tribute to the Princess, Senator and General who had dedicated her life to fighting for freedom in the galaxy.

The tributes seemed endless and when it was nearly over the newly appointed Vice Admiral Poe Dameron gave a rousing speech meant to rally the growing Resistance in Leia’s honour. The holonet broadcast the entire day’s proceedings despite the First Order’s attempts to block the signal, attempts the new Supreme Leader had already ensured would be woefully inadequate. 

Rey had felt the tremble in the Force as Ben ‘arrived’ at Leia’s funeral just in time to hear Lando Calrissian’s heartfelt tribute to a woman he’d always admired. Poe’s speech had been last, and it was clearly meant to inspire the galaxy to rise up against the oppression of the First Order. Ben envied Dameron his ability to channel the passion and conviction he felt for his cause in a manner that inspired his forces. He recognized that he could learn from the Vice Admiral about how to connect with those he led.

Ben Solo had no idea whether or not he was a natural leader. As Kylo Ren he had commanded First Order forces often enough but always through fear and intimidation alone, monster that he was. Where did that leave him now? To the First Order he was still Kylo Ren, but to himself he was...something else now.

Ben envied Dameron even more when he saw Rey move to congratulate him after he’d spoken. She was such a compassionate soul by nature. She’d even comforted him, a monster, when he had been at his most vulnerable. But it felt like a knife had torn into him and then twisted when he saw Rey hug Dameron and then kiss his cheek. Burning jealously flared within him. He knew very well that he himself was contemptible and that he would only destroy her if he got too close to her, monster that he was. It was all he knew how to do, really. But he’d wished himself Poe Dameron in that moment, that he’d been able to inspire the masses toward something he felt to be worthwhile with that radiant girl beaming into his face as he did it.

He stayed long after the crowds had gone.

At long last Rey could make her excuses to her friends, and she sought him out in the darkness at the edge of the forest that surrounded the valley of the natural amphitheater that had served as the location of Leia’s funeral.

She came to him, saying nothing. They had agreed that it would be unwise for them to touch each other through the bond based on what had occurred last time they had. Rey disregarded that and leaned her head against his chest, so he folded her gently against him for a moment. Stars, but even this felt so perfect that the Force seemed to hum between them.

**I have to go** she sent to him. **There is a wake.**

He nodded to her as she turned and made her way back to her friends, who were in turn making their way back to the base to toast Leia’s life.

*****

Ben stood alone in the darkness watching the last of the flames of his mother’s funeral pyre flicker and die. Lost in thought, he initially didn’t realize when his uncle Luke’s ghost materialized on his left and another much taller figure appeared on his right. 

It was the tall, unfamiliar figure who addressed him:

“She is right. Light and the darkness are both a part of you; embrace the truth and deny neither aspect of your nature. Let the Force guide you toward Balance. You are doing well, Grandson.”

Grandson? This was truly his grandfather? The one he’d called out to so many times, desperately seeking guidance in how to avoid being seduced by the light? This wasn’t Vader at all—Vader, whose voice he had heard only once, if it had truly been his voice at all. Had Snoke contrived to have him believe that, too? This Force ghost had chosen to appear to him as Anakin Skywalker. 

 

Both figures vanished as quickly as they’d arrived.

*******

Back at the base, endless toasts had been given in Leia’s honour and the celebrations had continued into the wee hours. Vice Admiral Poe Dameron was feeling the effects of them as he escorted Rey back to the Falcon. Rey giggled at a comment he’d made, and the next thing she knew Poe had her in an unexpected embrace, his lips claiming hers.

“Poe!”Rey exclaimed, pushing him away in surprise.

Poe got the message immediately and looked mortified.

“Shit, shit, shit! What was I doing? Oh Kriff, Rey, I’m so sorry. That was completely out of line.”

He was running both hands through his hair in agitation.

“Relax, Poe! You got the message. You stopped. It’s not like I had to beat you off with my staff like I had to do to somebody nearly every other day back on Jakku, either. You are very, very drunk. Apology accepted. Goodnight.”

Poe muttered another embarrassed apology and Rey made her way to the Falcon. She thought she’d felt Ben’s presence a moment ago, but the business with Poe had distracted her.

******

Ben had indeed come to Rey, only to find Poe Dameron kissing her passionately, one hand cupping her face while the other pressed her lithe body against his.

Ben had instantly severed the connection.

No grandfather, he thought to himself. I am not doing very well at all.


	10. Paperwork

Captain Peavey straightened his shoulders and took a deep breath as he prepared to enter Supreme Leader Kylo Ren’s audience chamber on the Finalizer. In stark contrast to his predecessor, Lord Ren apparently had little use for a throne and preferred to conduct meetings from behind a desk. His was situated facing an enormous viewport in a chamber otherwise lined with shelves. In very short order he’d had the shelves stocked with all manner of oddities, most notably an increasing number of actual books. Two long couches faced each other between the desk and the viewport with an elegant patterned carpet between them. It was rumoured that the Supreme Leader had taken to sleeping on those couches, though that made little sense to Peavey given that this chamber adjoined Lord Ren’s private apartments.

“My Lord Ren”, Peavey began, bowing.

“In the future, I would prefer that you not bow. Saluting will suffice.”

“Noted, my Lord. You wished to see me?”

“Indeed. Captain Peavey, what is your opinion of the Stormtrooper programme? Speak frankly. General Hux is making his way to the Outer Rim as we speak, in order to tend to our affairs in that sector. It has long been apparent to me that your expertise has been undervalued and unappreciated.”

Peavey’s outer calm belied his alarm. Was this some sort of trap? For years he’d silently tolerated Armitage Hux’s scheming and nepotism, attempting to take the moral high ground while keeping himself alive in the process. Was Ren actually asking him to comment on the state of one of the General’s pet projects?

In truth, Ben Solo hadn’t been aware of the emotions and energies pulsing through the crew of the Finalizer in anything more than a vague manner before he’d killed Snoke. Now it seemed as though a veil had lifted and he could sense the intricate latticework of relationships between the thousands of souls who lived and served on the mighty ship. Hux had been like a venomous spider pulling strings in its centre, of course. Despite the old adage about keeping one’s enemies especially close, Ben had ordered Hux and his retinue to the Outer Rim, ostensibly to check on projects based there. In truth, it removed Hux from the board to a certain degree while Ben came to terms with his new position as Supreme Leader. Not that plotting his assassination was beyond Hux, not even if he were physically as far away as the Outer Rim. The truth of it was that Ben couldn’t stand the sight of him.

Ben was determined to forge ahead with his ambitions to end the galaxy’s suffering. He meant to begin by alleviating the misery and discord that swirled through the Force around his own command ship. And that meant beginning with the husks of people who made up the Stormtrooper corps. 

It took a certain amount of Force nudging to persuade the honourable Captain to open up, but before long Peavey had provided him with a list nearly as long as his arm of concerns and recommendations concerning the Stormtroopers. Ben now also had a list of the most promising non-commissioned officers within the ranks aboard the Finalizer, as well as the names of those Peavey felt seemed woefully unsuited to their roles. 

“Thank you for your counsel. Speak of this to no one. You are dismissed, Commander Peavey.”

Commander? Peavey was stunned. He had entered the lair of the man long known as a volatile darksider distinctly aware of the strong possibility he could be Force-choked or flung across the room if he made a misstep. Instead he’d just had a thoughtful, if shocking, conversation with someone who seemed like a total stranger. And now he’d been promoted. Peavey left with a new spring in his step.

+

Ben felt the gentle brush of Rey’s mind against his as he finished making his notes on his meeting with Peavey.

*Hello, Scavenger* he sent her way. *Now is as good a time as any.* 

She materialized right on his desk, cross legged, and directly on top of his notes regarding the Stormtroopers. She looked elated.

“It worked again! It was like knocking on a door, you answered, and then you let me in!” Rey dimpled in delight and seemed completely oblivious as to how close to him she was actually sitting. Her enthusiasm was contagious, and he found himself smiling back at her. She looked utterly adorable, thought Ben. Ben of the suddenly-exceedingly-carefully-guarded thoughts. He recalled how he’d seen her with Dameron only a few days ago, and his face sobered.

“What is it? Oh, I’m on your desk. Have I ruined anything? What is all of this? Doesn’t the First Order invest in datapads?” She scooted off of the desk and plunked herself into the extra chair beside it.

“I find that physically writing things down helps me to process information. Besides, I’ve spent the better part of a week glued to datapads. I have found all sorts of discrepancies-—Hux is up to something, for one. I have sent him away for now, probably a colossal mistake. Not one of the Knights of Ren have heeded the order to return to the Finalizer, which leads me to wonder if they are answering to Hux. The Stormtrooper programme is an utter disaster, the galaxy seems to have more slaves than free citizens, and the spice cartels are completely out of hand. I have had just about enough of datapads for now.”

Rey smiled sympathetically and turned her attention to some of the other items on his desk. A set of pens, various small brushes and an untidy stack of paper caught her eye. She noticed that many of the papers were covered in random characters, all of them very elegantly formed.

“Did you do this? Obviously you did. Some of these look almost like pictures! This is absolutely beautiful!”

“It’s called calligraphy, and my mother taught me how to do it. I find it relaxing. These here, the ones you say are a bit like pictures—this technique is referred to as illumination. I haven’t done any of this since that night at the Jedi temple.”

“Would you write my name?” Rey asked eagerly.

The door to Rey’s mind was open and inviting, and it was suddenly clear to Ben that she had never even written her own name. That she had learned to read at all was astonishing to him given what he now knew of her upbringing, but Rey had never held a stylus of any description and actually written anything in her life. He meant to remedy that.

He took a pen, dipped it in an ink bottle, and wrote the three letters that spelled her name as beautifully as he could. She watched, transfixed, as his long fingers made exquisitely delicate strokes on the paper. He had such beautiful hands, she thought to herself. A wonder that such beauty was being created by the same hands that had wrought such monstrous brutality on...

She realized she’d forgotten to shield those thoughts from him when he suddenly looked up at her, his eyes dark pools of sadness and shame.

“I’m so sorry. That wasn’t at all helpful,” she whispered.

“It’s the truth” he responded flatly.

He finished writing her name. Then he wrote it again, this time using a much simpler script.

“Your turn”, he said, his fingers brushing hers as he handed her the pen. “Just start from the top...trace these”. He vacated the chair, insisting that proper posture was essential for this endeavour.

Rey seated herself and began. She could feel his breath against her neck as he leaned over her, one hand on the desk and the other on the back of her chair. He practically encircled her now, and she could feel the warmth of his body so very close to hers. His was a passionate nature, she knew, and she suddenly found herself willing him to lean down just a little farther— 

“Ben”, she whispered, looking up at him. “Isn’t it incredible that we can do any of this? That the Force has brought us together like this. We can reach for each other from across the stars”.

He was spellbound. She had never looked lovelier than in that moment—and then he recalled the sight of her with Dameron. A wave of anger and jealousy washed over him. Ben sharply severed the connection between them. He and Rey were abruptly wrenched away from each other.

It was better this way.


	11. Kyber

He sent her the Stormtroopers next, forty Stormtroopers from First Order ranks who’d proven so committed to the Resistance when he’d looked into their minds that he’d shipped them off in an unmarked transport to a neutral planet, where they’d been given instructions on how to reach the Resistance contacts based there. Rey had known to expect them, and the troopers asked to report to the former FN-2187. Let Dameron chew on that, Ben decided.

“Kylo Ren sent them to us? Are you kidding me? What are we supposed to do, welcome them with open arms when they’re probably here just to sabotage us? How did they find us? Have they been infected with something? What is this, biological warfare now?” Vice Admiral Poe Dameron was completely flummoxed, and the Resistance leadership was flabbergasted by the tales the troopers were telling. Not to mention puzzled as to why the First Order had suddenly ceased all expansionist activity and begun a number of humanitarian aid missions to some of the most suffering planets in the galaxy.

Even interrogated separately the Stormtroopers corroborated each others’ accounts:

Yes, the new Supreme Leader had sent them to the Resistance, apparently because he had looked into their minds and discovered where the loyalties of their hearts lay. No, it hadn’t hurt in the slightest.

Yes, the entire Stormtrooper programme was being overhauled, children would no longer be torn from their parents and subjected to brutal training and indoctrination. Newly liberated slaves were actually electing to join the ranks in some instances. 

No, they were not forced to wear their trademark helmets any longer, all of them preferring the more comfortable modified versions without face masks.

Yes, it was true that Stormtroopers were now free to choose names for themselves if they couldn’t remember the ones they’d been born with. Their numbers would now act as surnames. Databases were being searched in order to reunite families whenever possible. 

No, their orders had been clear. They were to report directly to someone called Finn, formerly known as FN-2187 of the First Order.

Yes, it was true that troops would no longer be left behind as standard procedure when they were incapacitated on the battlefield or otherwise a liability. 

No, brutality and torture of Stormtroopers by their commanding officers would no longer be tolerated. Rotating execution duty had been discontinued, execution duty now being reserved solely for the Supreme Leader himself.

Yes, it was true that he had literally sliced thirteen of the most needlessly vicious of his officers in half with his infamous lightsaber. The Supreme Leader had vowed to make examples of them for their senseless cruelty to the troopers in their charge.

And no, the Supreme Leader didn’t wear a mask anymore, either. Nor did he care to be called Kylo Ren. He didn’t wish to be referred to as anything other than ‘Supreme Leader’, and he was suddenly commanding a surprising amount of loyalty within the ranks. The mood of the entire fleet had dramatically shifted after Snoke’s death, almost overnight—or so it seemed to them. Some of these former Stormtroopers had secretly begun to question whether they had actually needed to join the Resistance at all given the circumstances.

The First Order was in an uproar.

+

Rey, Poe, Finn and Rose were en route to Naboo for clandestine meetings with the Queen, meetings that had been postponed for a time on account of Leia’s funeral. Rey felt Ben brush against her consciousness and realized he was asking to ‘meet’. He had never done so before, so she promptly excused herself from the others and headed to the small cabin she and Rose shared aboard the modified freighter. Finn and Rose exchanged glances; Finn had confided in Rose as to how preoccupied and odd Rey had seemed since Crait.

+

Rey was always aware of Ben now. He felt something like soft music playing in the background as she went about her days. Seldom distracting, always reassuring. Occasionally he’d send her a passing thought or mental image, but for the most part he chose to keep his own mind shielded from her. Rey wondered if that was his nature, if he wasn’t yet ready to completely trust her, or if he'd elected to do so because she’d made her attraction to him clear when they’d last ‘met’. He’d known exactly what had crossed her mind as he’d leaned over her, and then he’d abruptly ended their last session. Perhaps she had misread him as Poe had misread her...thankfully Ben hadn’t seemed upset since and they’d been able to plot strategy without any awkwardness. These things did happen. Rey preferred to keep her own mind open to his nearly all the time. It felt right to her somehow. Besides, he hadn’t complained about that and she felt certain he would if he didn’t care for the sensation.

\+ 

Ben was hunched over, head in his hands, on one of the couches in his study when the bond opened enough to allow them to see each other and their surroundings. Rey could feel his exhaustion, guilt—and fear. 

*I executed them, Rey. All of them* he sent to her, silently. *Twenty-seven officers from across the entire fleet, only because the Force told me they’d fully supported the destruction of the Hosnian system by the Starkiller. I didn’t even give them a chance to speak.*

*I was under the impression that you yourself had—*

*No! Never. I argued against it, I hated the whole project, but Hux and Snoke overruled me. Billions of voices silenced in an instant—how the Force cried out that day! It nearly broke me then and there.*

And there wouldn’t have been anything left of him for Rey to scavenge, he thought to himself.

Rey was relieved he hadn’t been responsible for the Hosnian atrocity but was left with mixed feelings as to the violence he’d just confessed to. It felt different than him having executed officers for their cruelty to their troops, as brutal as that had been. His emotions were roiling; what had set him off so?

The events of the week had been tumultuous enough as it was. Ben had completely upended the First Order, making sweeping changes to policy, staffing and direction of resources. He tentatively commanded a new loyalty in the officers in charge of all twenty-three of the Star Destroyers that had not travelled to the Outer Rim with Hux. Slavery had been abolished on thirteen worlds already, and medical or humanitarian missions had been dispensed to seventeen planets in desperate need of it. All of it had occurred in shockingly short order and had been intended as the first steps in a journey toward establishing what he thought of as a New Order. Eliminating slavery entirely, restructuring economies, replacing an entire system of governance—it was an enormous undertaking, one he had meant to begin with the eventual goal of forming a sort of new galactic alliance with the Resistance as a willing partner. One that would tear out the roots of the seemingly eternal pattern of mass conflict within the galaxy because of its very structure. And he certainly hadn’t meant to do it all by himself.

But once again Ben felt failure and inadequacy looming over him despite his best efforts. He had meant to deal with Hux once his own position was consolidated and relatively secure. The events of the past few hours had left him afraid of himself and afraid for all that he had hoped to create.

“I’m feel like I’m about to destroy everything all over again,” he finally said aloud.

“You know it’s been my intention to fracture the First Order, to begin a New Order. But I miscalculated badly when I sent Hux to the Outer Rim. I’ve just received confirmation that he is mustering a sizeable fleet, elements of which he took great pains to conceal from everyone for some time. I suspect his plans were under way long before I killed Snoke—in all likelihood he’d been meaning to overthrow Snoke himself. But Rey, it is so much worse...he has a second Starkiller well under way.” 

Ben was badly shaken, but Rey’s faith in him was not.

“Then we will expedite our plans. I am en route to Naboo as we speak. We can do this. You are not alone.”

Having her next to him once again felt so much like the warm glow and the sense of elation he’d felt when his kyber crystal had first called to him what seemed a lifetime ago. Before he’d corrupted his beautiful crystal, violently forcing it to bend to his will under the darkness of Snoke’s tutelage so that it had finally bled red and become the heart of his new lightsaber. His unstable saber, one requiring so much of the Force to contain its volatility that he’d feared for Rey’s life the instant she’d ignited it in Snoke’s throne room. He swore he’d never do to Rey what he’d done to his kyber crystal.

He felt himself descending too far into darkness again in his fear. His grandfather had told him to let in the light as well as to accept his darkness. How was he supposed to do that? He knew he had begun letting the light of the Force guide him, although so many of the first steps of that journey had been excruciating. Only Rey had seen him through it. She shone so brightly within the Force. He was afraid...Luke was right. He was afraid to let all of the light in, afraid of the pain and conflict that would surely result. 

But he also knew now that Rey had always called to a part of him, just as his kyber had called to him when he’d discovered it. His urge to keep her safe on Takodana had been no accident; the Force had intended it. When he’d reached into her mind in his search for the map leading to his uncle, she’d awakened in the Force like a kyber. Then she’d turned the tables on him and managed to reach into his own soul even as he’d so roughly invaded hers. Ben had left his own mind unguarded as he’d forced himself into hers, almost as if his subconscious had already recognized what he himself had not. The Force had forged the resulting bond between them, or at least the depth of it. Snoke hadn’t been fully responsible, or perhaps not at all. Rey had always been meant for him just as he had always been meant for her. The Force had meant for them to find each other and had bound the two of them irrevocably, light and dark. Suddenly he realized that whatever existed between Rey and Dameron seemed utterly irrelevant in comparison. It was time she knew it, too.

Ben took Rey’s face in his hands, gazing deeply into her beautiful hazel eyes before gently touching his own forehead to hers. 

Rey gasped in astonishment as she felt Ben open his mind to her fully for the first time. Not merely into the thoughts and intentions that swirled on the surface of his being, but into the essence of all that he was. He was showing her everything—his hopes, his fears, his dreams for the future—his despair, how events such as the Hosnian cataclysm had wounded him when they’d wounded the Force. Even the things deep inside of him he didn’t have a name for.

Delicately, tenderly, the warm tendrils of Rey’s consciousness embraced the very darkest parts of him, surrounding him with her fierce brightness.

She was a soothing whisper to his soul. She knew now his pain, his doubts, his guilt. Now she would know his hunger for her, too. He was suddenly unashamed of that. Rey was staggered by its intensity and he felt her willing the flickering candle of hope inside him to burn more brightly.

Rey gave another tiny gasp, and Ben’s thumbs traced the tears of joy that had begun to run down her face as he welcomed her into his very soul. It was as if he filled every part of her, and she him. For the briefest moment they were one. It was slightly terrifying and beyond exhilarating.

And over too soon.

+

Rose had come to check on Rey. She slid the door of their cabin open to discover Rey, sitting on her bunk.

And she was most definitely not alone.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose meets Ben and the Queen of Naboo has a very trying day.

Rose stopped in her tracks and stared in total shock at the scene in front of her. A strange man in black was tenderly holding Rey’s face and Rey’s hands were entwined in his dark, wavy hair. 

What was going on? 

They both looked up at her in surprise, so entranced with each other they’d barely registered her existence.

At once the man in black stood, gesturing toward the cabin door behind Rose and sliding it shut with what she could only assume was the Force. Was he a Jedi, too?

“No”, he insisted, moving toward her. Kriff, he was massive. And had he just read her mind? Who was he, and what was he doing here with Rey? On a ship headed for a top secret mission, no less.

“Rey”, Rose hissed. She had the sense to keep her voice low, Ben noticed. “What is this?”

Rey’s eyes flicked toward Ben and Rose could have sworn some sort of silent communication passed between them before Rey answered.

“Rose, this is Ben”.

Rose blinked before hesitantly offering her hand to the tall, dark haired man who stood before her so silently. 

“Hello”, she ventured.

Ben stared at the proffered hand, vividly recalling the last two occasions someone had extended their hand to him—and instead of grasping it for a handshake, he promptly placed a data chip into Rose’s palm, folding her fingers around it. His hand completely engulfed hers.

“You’re Rose. From engineering.” Rose nodded, surprised. “See that this gets to Dameron soon after you make planetfall. Tell him it was passed to you by someone in the palace, anonymously. It contains the technical readouts of the new Starkiller being secretly constructed under the direction of General Hux, expressly against the wishes of the Supreme Leader of the First Order. Tell him”.

“Oh”, Rose breathed. “This is the part where you use a Jedi mind trick on me!”

Incredulous, Ben leaned down toward her and said, slowly:

“No. This is the part where you do as I’ve asked because the Resistance needs this information and the truth of how you got it is utterly implausible.” For a split second Ben reminded Rey of Han.

“Why don’t you just give it to him yourself then?” Rose asked, frowning.

He said nothing. Turning to Rey, he pressed a quick kiss to the inside of her wrist, let go of her hand (which Rose noticed he’d been holding the entire time) and vanished.

 

“What just happened, Rey? Who was that?”

“It’s all because of the Force, Rose. It’s difficult to explain.” Rey answered, her voice hushed. “We need his help, and he needs ours. But we need to keep this between ourselves.” Rey briefly considered trying to wipe Rose’s mind but decided it wouldn't be fair to her friend. Besides, Ben would have done it in a heartbeat if he’d felt it necessary. Perhaps he’d ‘seen’ enough of the formidable Rose Tico over the past few weeks to decide she was worth trusting, at least in this.

“Fine. After we land. I’m still not sure why we have to do it this way, but I will. But you still haven’t answered my question. Who is he, and why the big secret?”

“Trust me when I say that it would make things very...awkward right now.”

“Oh...because of Poe...” Flirt that she knew him to be, Rose had begun to suspect that Poe harboured more than a passing interest in Rey of Jakku. And here they were, in close proximity for the next few days at least. 

“Okay, keep your cards close to your chest if you like. And don’t try telling me there’s nothing going on between you and Mr. Tall Dark and Intense.”

“Thanks, Rose. As I said, this is all rather complicated. He is no threat to us. Now, let’s get ready for this. Do you feel like working some of your magic on this hair of mine? We’re about to visit a Queen.

 

**************

 

As they entered the atmosphere Rey thought to herself that she’d never seen a more beautiful planet. When she beheld the renowned capital city of Theed she could scarcely believe that such a stunning city actually existed.

Their ship was directed to a deserted docking bay and the four of them were ushered without fanfare into a labyrinth of tunnels that eventually led to the exquisitely beautiful Royal Palace. Awed by the opulence of their surroundings, the foursome were made comfortable in a set of lovely rooms and were shown every courtesy by their attendants.

Rey was thankful for the simple, yet well cut blue-grey ensemble Ben had insisted on making a gift of. She’d actually been touched by the gesture and had already worn the first new clothes of her life to Leia’s funeral. No one had noticed them there; there had been enough going on. She fingered the surprisingly luxurious cloak and was glad she was wearing her soft new boots as she walked down the polished marble corridors of the palace.

She’d worn the kyber pendant made from Anakin’s fractured crystal on the outside of her tunic. Why had it taken to glowing softly?

 

************

 

“What? Who slipped it to you? The First Order is building another Starkiller? This is even worse than we thought!”

True to her word, Rose had handed Vice Admiral Dameron the datachip once they were settled into their guest quarters and had stubbornly refused to deviate from the story she’d been asked to tell. Rey felt a twinge of guilt that she and Ben had put Rose into such an unenviable position. Before Poe could press Rose any further, a modestly dressed (by Naboo standards) young girl of about sixteen entered the room.

To their surprise she was the Queen of Naboo, and after what amounted to a very short discussion she pledged to fund the purchase of a number of warships for the Resistance. Secretly, of course. Naboo had a long tradition of neutrality, but the First Order posed too much of a threat to the galaxy now for Naboo’s leadership to maintain their perfect neutrality. True, the events of recent weeks seemed to indicate that some sort of shift was under way in the First Order. Not much was known of Kylo Ren, the new Supreme Leader, but rumour had it he was a cruel and volatile man. 

The Queen recommended they travel with the funds to Cantonica, where they could easily meet with certain arms dealers at the illustrious casino in Canto Bight. They could return to Naboo after finalizing their contracts.

“Back to Canto Bight?” grinned Finn, as he elbowed Rose. 

“We tore up that town. Are you sure there’s anything left?”

***********

As the Queen made her way out of the room Rey followed her into the corridor.

“You wish to speak further, Rey of Jakku?” the Queen asked in a low monotone.

“I would”, Rey replied. She could feel Ben’s awareness of the conversation. Would it take place now, or later? And how could she ensure privacy?

“Come. We will not be disturbed.”

The Queen led her to a small chamber with a single entrance. Various portraits hung on its richly paneled walls. Rey was stunned by the opulence surrounding her and for the first time in her life was awfully glad she wasn’t wearing dusty rags from the desert any longer. Especially when the Queen invited her to sit on a silk covered divan while she herself took the guilded chair opposite.

Rey elected to remain standing.

“I have never known a kyber crystal to glow so,” said the Queen, thoughtfully. She was eying Rey’s pendant with interest, although not for its nearly incalculable monetary value.

“It’s been glowing like this ever since we arrived in Theed, although it’s never done this before. It is one half of a kyber crystal that once belonged to Anakin Skywalker.”

“Anakin Skywalker...now that is a name I have not heard in a very long time. Did you know that the Jedi Anakin Skywalker once acted as the protector to one of Naboo’s most beloved queens? Interesting that it should glow so, here, in this palace. One half of his kyber? Where, may I ask, is the other? I hadn’t realized they could be separated.”

Rey took a deep breath, preparing to give a vague answer as to the whereabouts of the other half of the crystal, and most importantly, the reason she’d asked for a meeting. And who else was coming. And how to make it clear that none of it was a betrayal.

Ben spared her by materializing beside her, tucking her left hand into the crook of his arm while somehow managing an elegant bow at the same time.

To her credit the Queen of Naboo remained outwardly composed, remarking only that she assumed the Force was at work. Ben explained how his Force bond with Rey allowed for them to communicate across great distances but that in order to remain visible to the Queen for the duration of the meeting he and Rey would need to maintain physical contact. Something in the way the two of them looked at each other made the Queen suspect that the pair before her were more than happy to have that as an excuse.

The Queen noted that the tall, unconventionally attractive man now standing before her was elegantly dressed in black with silvery embroidery around his collar and cuffs as well as down the centre of his tunic. 

Most interestingly, he was wearing what was most certainly the other half of what was apparently Anakin Skywalker’s kyber crystal. And it happened to be glowing just like its mate. So, two Jedi were standing here? Luke Skywalker was dead, but clearly he was not the last Jedi. 

*Nice touch, letting her see you have the other half,* Rey sent to Ben.

He mentally shrugged. *Figured we should present a united front.* Ben proceeded to answer the Queen’s unvoiced question about the crystal:

“We battled over Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber until we split it in two, and that is how the crystal was halved. We wear these to remind us that the Force was sending us a message. It is the same message the galaxy needs to heed.

Please accept my sincere apologies for the unconventional nature of this meeting (a master of understatement, this one, thought the Queen)...But had we met in person it would have caused great alarm for the populace (not sure why, you have the Light of the Resistance hanging off your arm and you look like you’d rather be off writing poetry to her rather than alarming anyone...although the quality of the poetry might be alarming indeed)...and having anyone feel threatened is not my intention.

Naboo has a long tradition of peaceful, stable governance that is the envy of the galaxy. I—we—have come before you today to ask for your counsel in how best to end the endless cycle of war that plagues the galaxy. The Old Republic, the Empire, the New Republic, the First Order—all have failed to do so. It is time for something new...”(My, what lofty aspirations you have, nameless Jedi-in-black...) 

“And who might you be?” (That you presume to be in any sort of position to accomplish any of this...and where have you been hiding?) 

Ben gazed calmly at the Queen of Naboo as he answered:

“I am the Supreme Leader of the First Order, soon to be the New Order. I was once Kylo Ren.”

 

The Queen’s eyes moved from Ben to Rey and then back again. 

“I think you had best sit down”.

************

 

“This is an audacious plan, Supreme Leader, and calls for sudden, unequivocal action. Must it proceed with such haste?”

“Time is of the essence, your Grace. The First Order factions I have been unable to persuade to join the New Order have banded together in the Outer Rim. They are led by General Armitage Hux, by whose orders the Hosnian system was annihilated. I have confirmation that a second Starkiller-like superweapon is nearing completion, and Hux’s sanity is very much in question. I have already provided the Resistance with the technical readouts to the new Starkiller. It is my hope to ally the New Order with the Resistance in order to destroy the superweapon, or possibly weapons, that threaten the galaxy. Then the true challenge would begin: creating a new galactic order through this new alliance, with you playing the pivotal role in its restructuring. Your history and traditions make Naboo ideally suited to assume that position.”

The Queen was silent for a time. And then she spoke:

“I agree.”

 

What unthinkable circumstances, the Queen thought to herself. Thousands of ‘reconditioned’ Stormtroopers were about to replace the ones already stationed on Naboo, and their orders were to be to report directly to her as a gesture of goodwill. Hux was about to be publicly charged with crimes against humanity by the Supreme Leader himself. She was not being asked to abandon her planet’s long-held pacifist stance to support the New Order’s offensive against the First Order’s superweapon; all she was being asked was to guide the steps toward a peaceful resolution to the galaxy’s conflicts afterward. When she mentioned the mission to Canto Bight and her pledge to support the Resistance he merely waved it off and asked that it continue. The more ships the Resistance had to battle Hux’s forces, the better. 

It was almost too much.

“Supreme Leader, as a gesture of good faith, is there anything Naboo can grant you? You have, in reality, asked nothing of us. (Until those weapons are blown up, that is...then the real work begins. Not that you seem terribly trying to work with...)

She watched as the Supreme Leader considered how best to answer. She noticed the muscle beneath his left eye twitch before he answered:

“Varykino.”

The Queen’s eyebrows lifted faintly in surprise. The Supreme Leader was interested in a very specific country estate in Naboo’s Lake District? (Although its original owner had been a famous poet...hmm. Perhaps that would rub off on this one’s poetry?)

“I regret that I have no authority to grant you the estate of Varykino, as the law is very clear. Varykino has an illustrious history, and you may not be aware that it was also once the home of Padmé Naberrie, our beloved Queen Amidala. More recently, it was the property of Princess Leia Organa. Upon her death, claim to Varykino passed to the lost Prince Ben Organa Solo, heir to the throne of Alderaan, its rightful king. If he were to be found.”

“King of nothing,” Ben replied, his response barely audible. Rey had been silent during the discussion between the Queen and Ben, her role there having been to facilitate their meeting and keep his presence visible by continuing to hold his hand. She rubbed small circles with her thumb as she felt his emotions begin to roil.

“Supreme Leader”, the Queen replied, almost sharply. “While the title is hereditary, do not be so quick to disparage its significance to the Alderaanian diaspora and New Alderaan.”

“I meant no disrespect. On the contrary. Your Grace is surely aware that in order to be invested as heir to the crown of Alderaan, the Prince (he nearly spat the word) would be required to fulfill Challenges of the Mind, the Body and the Heart, and if deemed worthy, only then would investiture take place. I can assure you, your Grace, that Ben Solo will never, EVER be found worthy!” The Supreme Leader was on his feet now, actually shouting at the diminutive Queen. Six handmaidens immediately surrounded them, seemingly out of nowhere, poised to take action.

Rey squeezed Ben’s hand, sending him calming thoughts. The Queen’s eyes flicked between Rey and Ben again. 

“My apologies, your Grace. I should not have addressed you so”. He was calm once more. The handmaidens retreated to the corners of the room, not quite leaving. Ben made a decision.

“The galaxy once knew me as Kylo Ren. I...I am Ben Solo.”

 

*************

 

A short time later, a tall, luminous figure approached the Queen as she silently comtemplated the portrait of Queen Amidala. Padmé Naberrie. “I can tell you why the kyber crystal glows here. It is because here is where I feel closest to her.” He gestured to the portrait.

Of course, thought the Queen to herself. To top it all off, I have just seen a ghost.

 

*************

 

Moonlight flooded the high-ceilinged chamber Rose and Rey shared that night in the Royal Palace. Rose lay in the most luxurious bed she’d ever imagined in her life. Rey was already snoring softly in the equally luxurious bed across the room. As she lay there, a tall figure slipped out of the shadows and moved toward Rey. Rose held her breath. She recognized him at once, only now he was elegantly dressed and looked very much at home in this palace. He looked at Rey for a moment, bent to kiss her gently on the forehead, and moved away toward the balcony. 

Rose cleared her throat loudly.

‘Ben’ looked toward her side of the room.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, Rose. I was just checking on her. It’s been an eventful day. Goodnight.”

“Wait!” Rose pulled on her wrapper and stepped out onto the balcony with him to overlook the gardens below. “Who are you really? And how did you manage to get that technical readout?” she ventured. He sighed.

“Trust me, Rose, you really don’t want to know the answer to that.”

She fixed him with an unrelenting look. 

“Try me. You’re important to Rey.” She crossed her arms and stared him down.

Rey was obviously important to this feisty creature before him, too. Kriff, Rey would need all the support she could get in the days to come, when the truth of it all came out.

“I’m the Supreme Leader of the First Order, of course. Soon to become the New Order.”

She snorted, finding that an odd attempt at humour.

When she saw how quiet he’d remained, she looked at him more carefully.

“Yes, Rose”, he whispered bitterly. “I’m Ben. Ben Solo. I nearly killed your Finn. I’ve killed my own father. I’ve destroyed everything that’s ever meant anything to me. So Force save the galaxy, because that’s what I’m trying to save now. I’m sorry, Rose. Rey’s going to need you. Thank you—thank you for being a friend to her.”

He vanished, leaving Rose alone on the balcony.


	13. The Mirror

Rose finished twisting the last strands of Rey’s hair into the nest of intricate braids and twists she’d fashioned at the base of Rey’s neck. The Queen had been strangely specific about the style, at one point even offering a lady’s maid to accompany them on the sleek Naboo yacht they were travelling in to Canto Bight. 

But no, Rose had wanted to do this herself. It brought back happy memories of how she and Paige had so often played ‘hairdresser’ for each other over the years. Before the First Order had ruined their lives. Rose blinked back the tears that threatened. She and Paige had sometimes imagined themselves princesses in children’s tales of old...funny that an actual princess, Leia Organa, had ended up teaching her so many skills for something as frivolous as hair. (Then again, no one had ever had better hair than Leia!) Being trapped on the Falcon with the General and without much else to do had meant that she and a few others, especially Kaydel, had learned all sorts of tricks.

Rose sighed as she thought of Kaydel Connix. Poe Dameron was oblivious to the fact that Kaydel was completely devoted to him. Rose had only been keeping company with them for a few weeks, but that much was obvious. Then there was Poe, just as unaware that the Jedi (although she insisted she wasn’t a Jedi) he’d set his sights on had eyes for no one but....the Supreme Leader of the First Order. Shit. Rose felt ill just thinking about that. But she had to trust a Jedi...

“There, all set. Let’s get you into that dress.”

Evening wear at the Casino on Canto Bight was restricted to black, white, or a combination of the two. The Queen had ensured that Poe and Rey would be suitably attired for their venture. Rose had already caught sight of Poe strutting around in the main cabin looking very pleased to be dressed to the nines. And here she’d taken him for a guy who would’ve needed a blaster to his head before he put on a suit! Then again, he did know that he was going to be Rey’s partner for this mission. This could prove to be a very interesting evening.

Rey. She looked ethereal, a vision in a deceptively simple, slim fitting white gown made of a diaphanous fabric. Strapless, the front was demure while the back was daringly open. A whisper of filmy fabric softly covered her shoulders and back like a short cape, leaving her arms bare. She looked stunning, thought Rose. And she hadn’t even put on whatever was in the plain case Rose handed her next.

“Here, the Queen said you were to wear this as well. It belonged to Leia. She said you are to keep this safe. For him. For Ben. Ben Solo”, she added meaningfully. “I saw him again, Rey. He told me who he really was.”

Rey was quiet for a moment, wondering how Ben could possibly have spoken to Rose without her having needed to be in contact with him at the same time. Ben felt her question through the bond and they began a wordless conversation.

Something in her face must have revealed that to Rose, who blurted:

“He isn’t here right now, is he? Watching you get dressed and everything? Because that would be—“

“Creepy! No, no, it’s not like that at all!”

*I’d have the courtesy to turn my back if I were, Scavenger!* she felt him sigh in mock exasperation across the bond. *Although I must say that I am tempted to see what the fuss is about.*

Rey blushed, thinking she wouldn’t mind in the slightest if he could see her looking like this...yes, she definitely wanted him to. And he knew it. 

“Rose, he’s on his way.” She’d felt him ask permission and she wasn’t going to deny him. 

“I’ll cover for you for five minutes. We’re about to land soon.” Rose turned on her heel and marched out of the cabin, sliding the door shut firmly and intending to stand guard for the next five minutes. Or maybe four. All against her better judgment.

 

Rey was gazing in wonderment at her unfamiliar looking reflection in the floor length mirror of the luxuriously appointed cabin when Ben’s darkly handsome figure appeared just behind her. He put his hands lightly around the span of her waist and drank in the sight of the young woman before him. He said nothing, carefully closing off his thoughts from her so as not to overwhelm her with the depths of the feelings she stirred within him.

She smiled at him, their eyes meeting in the mirror they hadn’t moved away from. He was dressed formally in black, and she wondered why. He smiled slowly at her in the mirror as he lifted her right hand to his lips and pressed a searing kiss to the inside of her wrist. She’d know soon enough.

“Rey,” he whispered, holding her hand to his face as he gazed at her in the mirror. Her fingers instinctively moved to tangle in his hair as he nuzzled her ear, lightly trailing kisses from her earlobe all the way to her collarbone. 

Oh Kriff, he enjoyed how he was making her feel, and for a moment he let her know just how much. He felt her sharp intake of breath. Good, she had never felt anything like the sensations he was stirring inside her. This pleased him immensely. He’d been so glad to learn she’d never been Dameron’s at all.

He released her hand for a moment so she could retrieve the plain case the Queen had left for her. It contained something of his mother’s? 

“So beautiful,” she whispered at the sight of the silver coloured necklace nestled inside the unassuming case. 

“Exquisite”, he agreed, although his eyes had yet to look at the contents of the box. He was too enthralled by the sight of Rey to even glance at it.

Until he did. 

And he knew he needed her to wear that particular necklace. Because now he knew he would never be able to imagine it on anyone else.

“The Queen’s instructions were for me to keep this safe for you...” Her voice trailed off.

The corner of Ben’s mouth turned up in a faint smirk. Of course they were...the girl Queen had known exactly what she was about! Poetry, indeed...

He found himself smiling into Rey’s eyes and letting her know how much it would mean to him if she wore that particular necklace. He felt her assent.

“Allow me”, he said softly as he fastened the distinctive collar made of identical square pieces of chalcedony around Rey’s slim neck, his fingers sending jolts of what felt like electricity through her body every time they brushed her bare skin.

“Oh look, there’s a bracelet too” said Rey, slipping the matching cuff onto her left hand. He caught that hand, gently sliding the silvery bracelet to her other wrist.

“It’s traditionally worn on the right hand.” (Because your left hand is meant for my right arm, he thought to himself.) He felt fiercely possessive just then.

Rey didn’t recognize the expression that had just crossed his face, and he had shrouded his thoughts from her completely.

Ben moved behind her once more, turning her so that she could once again see her reflection in the mirror. 

“Rose said I look like a princess.” Ben shook his head.

“No, more like a Queen, to me, Scavenger. See? Just lift your chin the way you did when you stared Snoke down.” 

*When you saved me, Rey.*

*No, when you saved me.*

His hands found her waist again and he pressed a chaste kiss to her temple as Rose knocked and entered the cabin.

“Don’t tell me the two of you wasted all that time just admiring yourselves in the mirror!” Rose harrumphed. He still scared her, this man. So did the thought that he didn’t scare her nearly as much as he probably ought to. And good grief, did he ever stop kissing her?! 

Pressing yet another kiss to the top of Rey’s head as a farewell, Ben thoroughly shocked Rose Tico—and himself—when he stepped forward and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

(I just did, Rose!)

“Thanks, Rose,” he said.

And of course, he vanished.


	14. Return to Canto Bight

The elegant young man in the white tuxedo with the red plom bloom on his lapel contemplated the glittering scene around him. Then he noticed the orange and white BB unit rolling along not far behind the striking young couple who’d just entered the famed casino of Canto Bight. No one noticed a droid, he knew. No one but the Master Codebreaker. That droid—it appeared identical to the one that had been here the night of the now infamous fathier rampage through the casino less than a standard month ago. Led by another pair—a man and a woman who’d been making a beeline for his table just before having been apprehended by security.

He’d been forced to feign ignorance of their existence given the circumstances. They’d been fools to approach him so obviously. Of course, after Crait it had all become clear. He sincerely wished he could have spirited them out of prison before DJ had gotten involved; so much might have been different in the end. He sighed, thinking of Leia, and reminding himself that Maz always insisted that some things were simply the will of the Force.

He eyed the young couple who’d preceded the droid. The young woman was enchanting; so fresh faced, exquisitely dressed...a diamond in the vulgar, ostentatious crowd that surrounded her. She had a certain serenity about her, even though he’d wager she’d never set foot in a casino before. (As for her necklace...well, the galaxy abounded with all sorts of fakes, didn’t it? Still, the overall effect was lovely just the same.)

The man—now here was a dashing fellow, indeed. Interesting that the young lady held herself ever so slightly apart from him, especially when her companion was being shamelessly ogled by at least half of the humans and humanoids in the room.

The man in the white jacket narrowed his eyes as he realized why the handsome fellow with the dazzling smile looked so familiar. He bore a striking resemblance to one of the new leaders of the Resistance—Dameron, yes. That was it. The one who’d given the rousing speech at the Princess’s funeral. He wished he’d been there—he wished he’d had the chance to pay tribute to the woman he’d admired more than any other. 

Why was Dameron here, of all places? That seemed rather reckless. Didn’t he realize how exposed he had left himself in this nest of vipers? He still didn’t recognize the girl, lovely as she was.

+

Poe led Rey through the throngs of glamorous casino patrons until they came to a quiet spot overlooking what they knew was the racetrack. It was still too early for the races, but they took a moment to drink in the view and sample the champagne a server offered them.

Rey found she didn’t care for champagne and was hoping they’d locate their contacts soon. She looked over at Poe. He really was devastatingly handsome, although she had to admit that she had come to find him a bit hot-headed. Still, he passionately believed in the Resistance. Although he hadn’t pressed her, she couldn’t help but sense his continuing interest in her. She’d taken great care since Leia’s funeral not to encourage him in the slightest. She decided to take the opportunity to discover where his thoughts lay on a different matter.

“Poe, why do you really think the Supreme Leader sent us those Stormtroopers? And what do you make of the fact the First Order hasn’t launched any offensives in nearly a month? Not to mention the humanitarian missions that have been reported, and the abolition of slavery on so many worlds already?” she ventured.

“I think this is just a feint, Rey”, he scoffed. “They are smart enough to realize that the entire galaxy is ready to rise up against the First Order now more than ever. They’re just making token gestures to placate us all so that the fire that’s been lit won’t burn them all to the ground.” He smiled in satisfaction at the mental picture that presented. Not long ago, Rey would have as well. 

“So you don’t think it’s possible that any of these steps are genuine moves to change the First Order from within? Snoke is dead—“ 

“And Kylo Ren is one vicious bastard, as you well know. No, Rey. Peace can’t come to the galaxy until we defeat the First Order. That new Starkiller has to be destroyed before it is operational, but I very much doubt that crap about it being built ‘against the wishes of the Supreme Leader.’ He’s the worst of the lot.” He raised his glass as if in a toast to Rey before finishing:

“Thank the Force we have our very own Jedi to bring him down.” He flashed another dazzling smile at her but all Rey felt was queasy inside. 

“So you can’t imagine a future where some sort of compromise could be reached? What if the reforms we are hearing of are genuine? Think of what that could mean for the galaxy.” 

“Rey of sunshine, there is no chance in hell of that. The restoration of the New Republic is the only hope for peace in the galaxy, and that will only happen when we defeat the First Order.”

“But Leia told me how the New Republic atrophied, about the irreconcilable differences between the Populists and the Centrists after Mon Mothma disappeared. She was convinced the system itself was deeply flawed, and countless worlds suffered for it.”

“She was convinced the First Order had to be destroyed, and you of all people know that! We will make sure her fondest wish comes true, won’t we?” he said with conviction. “Now let’s go and find our new friends.” 

********

Once their contacts were located, Poe retreated with them to one of the numerous back rooms set aside for just those types of transactions, leaving Rey and BB-8 on the casino floor as lookouts for any hints of trouble from the First Order. BB-8 rolled over to the other end of the main hall.

Rey could relax her guard; she knew Ben was well aware of their plans tonight. She moved toward an alcove, thinking to watch the proceedings from its relative seclusion. Before she had even sensed his presence, Ben had her in his arms and was smiling into her eyes. It was such a rare and beautiful thing, that smile of his, thought Rey.

“Surprise, Scavenger!” he whispered into her ear as he held her. Rey’s lips parted in astonishment—he had plans for those later, Ben thought to himself. His thumbs traced patterns on the exposed skin of her back and her inner arm as he held her close. Rey felt like she was about to catch fire. Or maybe just float away from sheer happiness.

“You’re really here! I didn’t even feel it. How—“

“I guarded my thoughts very, very carefully, that’s how. We’re at the most exclusive casino in the galaxy; let’s take some chances, shall we?” he whispered conspiratorially. To her surprise, he led her to one of the long tables where dice were being thrown, plunking down some chips on her behalf. 

“You’re going to play tonight, not just watch”, he insisted.

“You do realize I have no idea what I’m doing.” she protested.

He smirked at her, suddenly looking every inch a rakish gambler’s son. Han’s son. “Trust me!” The corner of his mouth tilted up and his eyes twinkled with amusement.

Rey found herself tossing golden dice whenever it was her turn, not having the slightest clue as to what any of the symbols meant at first, or even realizing when she’d won. (Which she did, surprisingly often.) She was so guileless and adorable doing it that no one seemed to begrudge her her winnings. Ben guided her from table to table, his hand always on the small of her back, constantly whispering into her ear and smiling into her eyes as her stack of chips kept increasing at an incredible rate.

*You are cheating, Ben Solo! You are using the Force!* she finally sent, indignantly. 

*Yes, I am!* He raised his eyebrows as if to challenge her.

“You are a scoundrel!” She burst out laughing, and Ben flashed her a lopsided grin, enjoying her reaction.

+

The elegant man in the white jacket with the red plom bloom on his lapel contemplated lingering a little longer at the high stakes table.

He made it his business to have the pulse of the galaxy at his fingertips, and what he was seeing at the next table piqued his curiosity. There she was again, that ravishing young creature he’d seen earlier entering with the Resistance leader. Who was the dark haired young man who towered over her now, holding her so protectively? 

They were both dressed in the perfectly elegant Alderaanian style so rarely seen in the galaxy these days. There was something about the tall young man with the commanding presence...he couldn’t put his finger on it. Until the young man in question looked up. 

He knew those eyes. He’d looked into them a thousand times, only it had been six long years ago—before he’d betrayed Leia and ruined everything.

That necklace was no imitation. Nien Nunb had been awarded the famous piece years ago in service to Alderaanian survivors. Who was this couple, then, and why did that young woman have the Chalcedony Waves of Alderaan clasped around her slender throat? It was to be worn only by the women of the House of Organa and, to his grief, Princess Leia was dead. Yes, it could be a copy, but the bracelet was there too—and on the girl’s right wrist. How many alive today would know it was meant to be worn that way? True, it was possibly just another coincidence. A woman only had two wrists, after all. And Leia had been the last of the house of Organa, unless...

Was it possible? The galaxy knew her son had vanished after Skywalker’s temple had been destroyed. There hadn’t been so much as a whisper concerning his whereabouts since. Then again, Skywalker himself had reappeared not long ago in rather spectacular fashion, and some said that young Solo had gone off with him for all these years. This dark haired young man appeared to be approximately the right age. He didn’t look much like either General Organa or General Solo, but Solo had been tall—Vader, even taller. But those eyes...

Was he actually looking at Ben Solo, lost heir to what would have been the throne of Alderaan? Had he made the girl he couldn’t keep his eyes (or his hands) off his wife, then? That would be the only way she’d have the right to wear that necklace. This pair. The droid. The Vice Admiral. The Master Code Breaker didn’t believe in coincidences. Something was shifting.

To the surprise of those around him, the man with the red plom bloom excused himself from the high stakes table. He made his way to the sleek starship he called his own and set coordinates for Takodana.

+

“Elevated heart rate? Relax, BB-8, I’m fine. Take this straight to Poe. It’ll make a difference.” Rey popped the secure card containing the fortune she’d ‘won’ into the little droid and straightened his antenna affectionately as she sent him on his way. With it, the Resistance would be able to purchase several times the ships they had expected to.

“So that was the reason you came tonight—to make sure the Resistance could field an even larger fleet” she teased Ben.

He’d led her to the railing overlooking the fathier track, pausing only to order two small glasses of something he’d called cognac, which he insisted she try. It was the same colour as Ben’s eyes...which meant she was predisposed to loving it even before she’d tasted it. Ben’s arm encircled her waist as they stood at the railing together, enjoying the silence and the sight of the stars scattered across the night sky. 

“We wouldn’t see their light if it weren’t for the darkness, would we,” Rey whispered as she leaned into him. “That’s true”, he replied softly, his chin resting on the top of her head. “You know, on Gatalenta they say that everything is written in the stars”. 

“Why else did you come tonight?” Rey asked softly. “The stars aren’t telling me that.”

Ben sighed.

“Here you are, without a lightsaber, without any idea how to defend yourself against a blaster bolt, without...”

“Hold on, you can actually do that? Stop a blaster bolt?” Rey was curious; so much of his extensive training had been instantly conveyed to her the very first time they’d ever linked, but this had certainly not been included. Nor had the Jedi texts referred to anything like it.

“Or a proton torpedo, or a laser cannon. Any type of energy being sent through space. It all relies on the same principle. It’s fascinating, and very complex. Interestingly enough, the Starkiller also utilized the...hmmm, how to explain this best...it begins with the understanding of time and space within the Force. Essentially...”

He turned her so that she was facing him, remembering there was a much better way of helping her understand. He lowered his head so that their foreheads touched, closing his eyes, deep in concentration. He breathed in the heady scent of her, knowing her lips were only inches away from his own. He fought to regain his concentration; he needed to teach Rey how to do this. It might save her life one day. If only he’d known his wingman was still firing on the Raddus the moment he’d realized he couldn’t shoot his mother out of the sky...he could have stopped those bolts if he hadn’t been taken by surprise. And his mother would not have died from the aftereffects. He needed to protect Rey...especially from himself.

*Don’t be afraid, you could never hurt me, Ben* she sent to him.

“You’ve become my teacher after all, haven’t you...” she whispered, remembering how he’d once had her trapped, their lightsabers and gazes locked, over the mighty chasm created by the Starkiller’s destruction. Now he had her trapped between the railing and his massive, smouldering self, and she had never felt less peril in her life. “Something tells me the Masters would have found this particular technique rather unorthodox,” Rey said softly, feeling the back of Ben’s fingers move to brush her cheek and linger at her jawline.

Ben gave her a slow smile, his eyes never leaving hers as one of his hands moved to the small of her exposed back to draw her even closer to him. He brushed the thumb of his other hand lightly along her mouth, never breaking his gaze. 

“You’re trembling”, Ben whispered.

“I’m not trembling,” Rey whispered back. Although they both knew she was. “Why did you come here tonight”, Rey breathed, although they both knew. “Say it. Go on, say it.”

Minx, tossing those words, of all words, back at him in this of all moments, he thought with amusement. She was perfect. So fierce. So strong. His equal in the Force. And so sweet... cognac. That’s what those sweet lips of hers would taste like just now, Ben thought to himself. He knew their minds were intertwined, that she knew exactly what he was feeling.

“Because I want you, Rey. Just you.”

They closed their eyes and the remaining distance between them then, Ben intending to kiss her as gently as his strength would allow. The taste of her was intoxicating, and when Rey snaked her arms around him to tangle her hands in his hair, he was lost.

Rey felt herself being swept away by the man who had her in his arms, the Force singing through both of them as their bodies began what their souls had accomplished what seemed like ages ago.

Struggling to remember himself, Ben drew a ragged breath as he reluctantly broke their embrace. Cupping Rey’s glowing face in his hands, he looked at her intently.

“Sweetheart, there is one other reason I’m here tonight. The First Order is about to obliterate Canto Bight as a message to the galaxy that those who profit from endless conflict have no place any longer...I needed to know that you would be safe, first. Get Dameron, get the droid, get the arms dealers he’s cutting deals with. Get them away from this place. Tell me when your ship is clear of the planet.”

She blinked at him, unsure of how she felt about this news. And there was something he didn't know. She told him about the slave children in the stables Finn and Rose had begged her to rescue and take away with them. Now it was critical that they leave.

“I’ll get them, sweetheart.” How could he not? He was the grandson of a slave.

“Now, go!” He pulled her into his arms, kissing her one last time before letting her go.

+

Ben stole through the shadows deep into the fathier stables, the Force guiding him to one particular stall. As he opened the gate, a small boy leaped up from the straw he’d been huddling in near the feet of the majestic fathier beside him. The boy’s hand hovered over the large red knob of what was clearly an alarm button. The child hesitated. 

“Resistance?” he whispered to Ben, momentarily flashing the secret symbol with the ring he was wearing. Wherever had he gotten that, Ben wondered. 

“No,” Ben replied automatically. “I mean, yes!” he hissed, as he saw the boy meant to trigger the alarm. Kriff, too late!

While the alarm blared, Ben tried to explain to the boy and the two other children who’d rushed over what it was they needed to do, and what was about to happen to Canto Bight. No sooner had he done so than the entire herd of fathiers was released and urged to flee to safety by their young handlers. The girl and the other boy raced off for the spaceport immediately, intent on following the instructions Ben had given them to the letter. 

Ben turned to leave himself but realized the first child, the one who’d pressed the button, was nowhere to be seen. 

But he was easy to find in the Force—what a powerful Force signature this small boy had! Ben raced to where he sensed the child to be, only to come upon an enormous being viciously shocking the child in the legs with an electro-whip so that the boy’s legs crumpled beneath him and he fell to the ground, helpless. 

“No!” Ben growled, using the Force to slam the enormous brute against the far wall, not caring if he survived. Kriff, this reminded him too much of Snoke and his own history. 

He scooped the surprised child up and tossed him over his shoulder like a sack of grain, knowing it was only moments before security forces of some type were upon them. As he raced out of the stables and headed in the direction of the spaceport, a large security team ordered them to stop, sending stun bolts their way when Ben didn’t comply. Ben waved his free hand and redirected the stun bolts so that they knocked out the entire group that had fired them.

“Jedi!” To his astonishment, the small boy he was carting had started laughing gleefully.

“No, I am NOT a Jedi” he insisted, hurriedly making his way to the spaceport. 

Ben spotted the sleek Naboo cruiser he sought, which was facing the opposite direction from the shuttle he’d used to arrive shortly after he’d known they had.

Rushing up the ramp of the streamlined space yacht, he was met partway by a very startled Finn. Ben unceremoniously dumped the boy he’d rescued straight into Finn’s arms. 

“Go! Go now.” 

Finn watched as Ben turned and strode into the darkness.


	15. Compulsion

As they prepared to enter hyperspace, Poe yelled from the cockpit.

“We’ve got company!”

Finn stayed with the children, who were still reeling after the events of the last ten minutes. Rey and Rose hurried to the cockpit.

A First Order star destroyer loomed just ahead of them. Poe swore quietly under his breath and glanced at Rey, who had seated herself in the copilot’s chair. She looked supremely unconcerned, her face perfectly serene. Rose knew that look.

“They are not here for us. We are an unarmed civilian craft departing Cantonica en route to Naboo. The First Order has no plans to intercept us. It also allowed the ship our contacts were departing on to continue on its way.” Rey spoke quietly.

Poe Dameron knew there was no other option for them but to escape to the safety of hyperspace, so he continued to make calculations for the jump to light speed even as he wondered why Rey and Rose seemed so oddly calm about the obvious threat right in front of them.

Poe glanced at Rey again, who was still staring serenely out the viewport. Her eyes appeared to be following a shuttle headed for one of the mighty ship’s docking bays.

“I hope you’re right about that. Because we don’t exactly have options here.”

“Believe me, the Supreme Leader will not interfere with us. I feel it in the Force. I can sense the Supreme Leader’s intentions. He means us no harm.”

He felt shock surge through him. Her tone was new, too, thought Poe to himself. Quietly commanding. Was it also unnerving? 

“Continue on our present course.”

With that, Rey stood up and swept away. Like an empress, Poe reflected. What a woman.

Vice Admiral Dameron watched as two squadrons of TIEs streamed out of the Finalizer’s hangars, heading straight for Canto Bight.

*******

“There’s something I need to talk to you about, Finn. It can’t wait any longer.”

Finn and Rose had been getting their three new charges settled in the ship’s luxurious common area when Rey beckoned for Finn to follow her to the cabin she and Rose were sharing for the trip back to Naboo.

Finn’s stomach was churning; he was filled with a kind of dread.

“That kid, Temiri. He keeps going on about the ‘Jedi’, the ‘dark Jedi’. Please tell me that wasn’t Kylo Ren.” Finn’s voice was shaking. That man’s face had been right in front of him, thought Finn. Different expression, the same distinctive features. There had been no mistaking him.

Rey took a deep breath. She’d hated keeping this secret from him for weeks. Finn was her first friend. She was grateful that Rose had kept her confidence for the past twenty-four standard hours, but Rey had no intention of keeping her in that awkward position any longer.

“That wasn’t Kylo Ren, Finn. That was Ben Solo. Kylo Ren is gone.”

Rey took Finn by the shoulders and did her best to explain how Ben Solo had been corrupted by Snoke and how with his death he had been freed. 

“Those slave children we just rescued? He isn’t so different from them, Finn. Except that a being more powerful than anything you or I could imagine was keeping him enslaved through the Force, using his own weaknesses to make him a dark side tool. He killed Snoke, Finn. It wasn’t me. He killed Snoke to break his own chains, but he did it to save me.”

Finn was shaken to the core. He felt afraid, and he was trying hard not to feel betrayed and hurt she hadn’t confided in him earlier.

“Finn, the Force willed this. It created a connection. Between Ben Solo and me. So that together we could do what needs to be done, so that Kylo Ren could die. He intends to end this war, Finn. Just not in a way we’d ever imagined. The Force wants this ended. It seeks balance. The First Order is ending, Finn.”

******

Finn slumped on the edge of the bunk after Rey left the cabin, overwhelmed. He was afraid. Afraid of the First Order, even though she was convinced it was somehow ending. But especially afraid for Rey. Had Kylo Ren somehow lured her into a trap of some sort, had he brainwashed her with the Force? 

And he was angry. Angry that he and Rose and Rey and Poe and all the others—Resistance and his former squad mates alike—-had all suffered so deeply at the hands of the First Order. With the Resistance, he finally had something to fight for. Suddenly, he wasn’t even sure what he was fighting against.

He looked up to see Kylo Ren’s pale face silently regarding him from the opposite bunk. Ben spoke very quietly:

“Don’t be angry with Rey, Finn. She has done no wrong. It was difficult for her to wait until the time was right to tell you all of this. You know I am the one who deserves your anger.”

Finn said nothing, horror etched all over his features. He wasn’t feeling betrayed by Rey, he realized. He was afraid of what the man in front of him might do to her. And he was confused.

“Did you ever wonder why I didn’t kill you? Back on Jakku, when you couldn’t bring yourself to massacre those villagers, every one of them innocent of any wrongdoing?”

Finn still said nothing, vividly recalling how terrified he’d been when he realized he’d attracted Kylo Ren’s notice that horrific night.

“You couldn’t bring yourself to do it, could you? To carry out my orders. You knew it was wrong. You were right.”

Finn continued to sit silently.

“And on Starkiller? Only later did I come to realize why I only wounded you. Instead of slicing you in half. Or impaling you, like I did my own father.” He was whispering now.

“It’s because I knew you were fighting to protect Rey. How could I have killed you? You were fighting for her. You had no idea I had no intention of harming her.”

Ben stood, looming over Finn. 

“I named you traitor. But you were only ever a traitor to the First Order, not to what truly matters. The First Order will die. I hope you can find it in yourself to learn what the New Order means to accomplish, and what the New Order and the Resistance could accomplish together for the greater good. A new alliance, if you will.”

Finn had much he wanted to say, but remained silent.

“There is no way to right the wrongs you have suffered. But here is one small reparation I can make to you. Here is all of the information contained in First Order databanks with regards to FN-2187’s family history and planet of origin. I have no idea what you will discover should you choose to investigate further.”

With that, the man Finn had thought of as Kylo Ren disappeared, leaving Finn clutching a tiny datachip in his hand.

*******

“You’re angry with me.” 

Ben was sitting at his desk hunched over some papers when Rey materialized in his chambers a few hours later. She stood with her arms folded, keeping her back to him as she looked out at the starscape beyond the viewport.

“We were just with those people, Ben. We were looking them in the eye. We were actually enjoying ourselves in their company. So yes, I am having some difficulty with this.” 

Ben understood why. Razing a city to make a point was harsh. But the attack had been confined to the casino itself and to the luxurious quarter surrounding it. It had been restricted to the playground of the elite who made their profits solely from weapons of war, weapons he intended to eliminate the need for on such a massive scale. Besides, he’d directed a powerful Force wave of suggestion to the beings in the targeted area a full fifteen minutes before the attack commenced. People had fled the area, unable to resist the compulsion to leave. He’d intended to minimize actual casualties, and possibly eliminate them entirely. He felt her relief as he conveyed that to her now. She hadn’t known that part of it.

“You can do that? Control masses of people like that?” Rey was surprised. She’d heard of ‘Jedi mind tricks’, but this sounded well beyond that. It bothered her he hadn’t told her of his plans, and it also bothered her that she hadn’t felt him do it.

“Influence them? Yes. In this case, get people to safety. Believe me, the Emperor used it on a much larger scale and for darker purposes. As did Snoke. I think he was actually draining the entire fleet in a way, truth be told. You can feel the difference in the fleet now that he’s gone. I have no qualms about using this, Rey. I have come to believe my mother did so to great effect herself, probably unconsciously.”

“Compulsion? Finn seems to fear that’s exactly what you’ve been doing to me. Using some sort of dark side influence to lure me into some sort of trap.”

“You know better than that, Scavenger. Do you think I could compel you to do anything against your wishes? Or that I would even try?” Ben whispered, closing his eyes as Rey began running her fingers through his hair from where she now stood behind his chair.

She moved to wrap her arms around his neck and his tense shoulders in response, kissing his ear. She already knew the answer to that. The Force hummed between them as she tangled her fingers in his hair again.

“How can you even see what you’re doing half the time?” she teased him, pulling the hair at the top of his head into a tail and the securing it with one of the many ties that had ended up in her pockets after she and Rose had undone her intricate hairstyle from earlier in the evening. She smiled at how he looked, feeling quite pleased with her handiwork. She felt him wishing she were still in that gorgeous gown. He was sending her all sorts of distracting thoughts.

“Rose thoroughly approves of the strike you ordered, by the way.” So many shades of gray, thought Rey. She felt much better knowing he’d sent the unsuspecting casino patrons to safety before sending the TIEs in.

“What have you been torturing yourself with, here?” She glanced down at two papers on his desk, both of them covered in his beautiful, flowing script. She noticed the ink stains on his fingers and read the first page:

The Jedi Code

There is no emotion, there is peace.  
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.  
There is no passion, there is serenity.  
There is no chaos, there is harmony.  
There is no death, there is the Force.

 

“How are the children?” he asked her. “Temiri, the Force sensitive boy—he called me a Jedi. Do you see, Rey? Why that is something I could never be?”

“Technically, Ben, you are the last Jedi. That is, you are the last person alive to have had proper Jedi training. But I agree—this is not a code I think I could live by, either.”

Ben took her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. He felt her fight the urge to melt into him. 

“It’s not part of the Code, but do you realize that we share would be forbidden to the Jedi? Strictly forbidden. Does it feel like the Force intends that?”

Rey shook her head, pulling his shoulders more tightly into her embrace and pressing her cheek against his hair. Far from it, they both knew. The way of the Jedi was not for them. Every instinct either of them possessed cried out against the idea of denying their connection. Their thoughts intertwined through their silent bond, agreeing. The Force—connecting all things, binding all things—what sense did it make for those who were most sensitive to it to be asked to keep themselves apart from others, to deny the natural bonds that formed between sentient beings? The Jedi of the past were no different than the First Order in demanding that young children be taken from their families for training. Stormtrooper, Padawan—the result was the same. A severance that felt unnatural in the Force. To Rey and Ben, the thought was abhorrent.

“I wonder if Snoke would ever have turned me if I hadn’t been sent away from my parents”, Ben whispered. They would never know the answer to that. But judging how he’d felt when he’d seen his mother one last time, he felt he could hazard a guess. Perhaps the bonds that were naturally meant to link people together had many purposes.

“I’m glad you gave Finn that datachip, Ben. This has been hard on him. As I said, part of him still worries you’ve compelled me in some way, and that this is all an elaborate ruse.”

“Understandable, Scavenger. It will take some time to establish trust between us and the Resistance as we move forward. But the only compulsion I’m using is on my own officers, for obvious reasons.”

Rey pulled away in shock.

“What do you mean?”

“With the exception of those in the Outer Rim, how else could I have united the First Order fleet so completely, so quickly? I’d fully expected this process to take months. Even years. But with Hux’s plans we needed to act with haste, and decisively. How else would I have been able to get the First Order leadership to unanimously agree to so many sweeping changes, especially in light of the fact so much of it goes against all they’ve ever been taught? So tomorrow, I will announce the beginning of the New Order and charge Hux with crimes against humanity. And then we will head to the Outer Rim to destroy whatever it is he’s hiding out there. It begins, Rey.”

“You’ve compelled them. Your entire fleet,” she said, slowly. She backed away from his chair. “You’re using the Force to persuade them to move against Hux. You.”

“Yes! We need to act as quickly as possible, you know that, Rey. We cannot have another Starkiller. It’s an abomination. I’m not hurting these people, I’m uniting them in common cause. How else can I save them, save anyone?”

Ben could feel Rey’s emotions roiling as if they were his own. She was hurt. She was confused. She was angry.

The Force snapped the connection between them.


	16. Chapter 16

“Lyda, could you please bring tea?” Ben commed one of the two young former Stormtroopers stationed outside his door who now functioned as part of his personal staff. He preferred people to serving droids. Besides, droids could be programmed for assassination, while he could read the emotions of people around him as naturally as breathing. That had been why it had always been so upsetting for him when his parents had fought. Right now, he knew he had to sort things out with Rey.

He felt relief when she finally responded to his brushes against her consciousness. She’d briefly blocked him, but now she was coming to him. That was preferable to his going to her; she was still aboard a crowded starship heading to Naboo.

“Please bring an extra cup.”

Lyda, the former LY-6218, was surprised. He was hardly likely to be meeting with Commander Peavey or any of the other officers at this odd hour. She quickly set a second cup beside the pot of Chandrilan tea on the serving tray and hurried from the Supreme Leader’s kitchen into his study.

Lyda’s eyes widened as she spotted the reason for the extra teacup. A young lady was curled up in the extra chair next to the Supreme Leader’s desk. Not only that—she was lovely. Lyda couldn’t recall having seen any female with their hair down before, either. Officers wore theirs pinned up, and all of the troopers, male or female, had been required to keep their heads shorn until a few short weeks ago. How had she even gotten there? Lyda and Ronar had been at their post for hours and she knew no one had entered the Supreme Leader’s chambers. 

Ben felt the girl’s twinge of alarm. “Lyda, this is Rey. The Force brought her here. You have not been remiss in your duties.”

The Force! Lyda was awed. She’d thought that only the Supreme Leader had the Force, along with those Knights of Ren, now that the legendary Luke Skywalker was supposedly dead.

Ben sensed Rey inquiring about the girl so he recalled the day he’d first met this child, a girl who had no business being in this army or any other but was typical of what the First Order now had within much of its ranks.

She had been one of the only Stormtroopers reluctant to part with her old, uncomfortable helmet. She had only removed it at his insistence. When he’d seen the vicious scars crisscrossing her young face, scars that had never seen the benefit of bacta, he’d understood why she’d wanted to stay hidden away. She had been brutally punished several times—for the crime of secretly reading datachrons, of all things. Harmless, escapist fantasies and nothing more. Force only knew how she’d managed to get her hands on them to begin with. 

Ben had felt instant compassion for her and had asked her to be one of his attendants. She was thus spared the humiliation of having quite so many pairs of eyes on her, and she had been elated at having been put in charge of organizing the datachrons on his shelves. (His only condition had been that she was to start reading them. And that she never, ever touch the books, holochrons, scrolls and various odd looking objects on the shelves to the right of the viewport. They were all to do with the Force, he’d told her. That had been enough to persuade her to leave them well enough alone.)

Lyda served the tea, eager to escape the notice of this Rey person of the lovely hair and perfect complexion. Lord Ren—Lord Solo, she corrected herself—just this evening he had asked she and Ronar to start addressing him as Lord Solo—well, she’d believed him when he’d told her he didn’t mind her scars. After all, he had a nasty one of his own. And he had even told her that he knew her hair would be very pretty when it all grew in. But that didn’t make her feel any better when she looked at this beautiful stranger in front of her. The one who had just gotten up out of her chair and asked her to wait a moment instead of leaving.

“Lyda, I would like to try to help you”. Lyda wasn’t sure what this Rey meant, and she fought the urge to just skitter away. But her training had accustomed her to following instructions, so she closed her eyes when Rey asked her to and did her best not to flinch when she felt fingertips gliding over the surface of her face. It seemed to go on for a very long time, and her skin started to feel all tingly. Suddenly she was astonishingly tired.

“All done.”

Lyda opened her eyes and looked at Rey, then at the Supreme Leader. He was standing behind Rey with his hands resting right at her waist, of all things. Lyda was astonished. Lord Solo was actually smiling! She had never, ever seen him smile before. Lyda could hardly believe it when he dismissed her for the night and ordered her to go to her quarters and rest immediately.

“But not before you look in the mirror, Lyda.”

Force healing was something Ben had never, ever been able to do.

+

Ben folded Rey against him and the two of them buried their faces in each other.

“I’m so sorry, Rey. I’ve been shielding my thoughts so closely recently. I didn’t mean to hurt you by shutting you out.” Rey sighed and snuggled closer to him, breathing in the warmth of his reassurance. She let the peace they felt together envelop her, even as the deep current of what felt like fire surged between them at the same time. They’d made so many plans recently, and their minds had come to feel so intimately entwined, that she had felt frighteningly unbalanced when he’d so casually mentioned something as significant as Force compulsion of his entire fleet without her having had the slightest inkling of it. She’d understood the necessity of it almost immediately, and she knew his intentions were good. What had wounded her was knowing he kept himself so guarded when she kept her mind so open to his. She felt like they were two halves of a whole and knew he felt that, too. So it confused her. 

“Please be patient with me, sweetheart,” Ben implored her. She would, she was telling him. Of course she would. Ben was stroking her hair softly, and inviting the tendrils of her mind to interlace with his. He carefully held her away from its darkest corners, though. 

Because that was where he’d locked away the memories of the Force dream he’d been sent the past two nights.

The one in which Rey died.

 

+

Several hours after having departed to return to the Naboo cruiser, Rey returned to Ben’s chambers. There he lay, sprawled in starlight on one of the couches in his study, exactly where she’d left him. It had been nearly impossible for them to part; the pull between them had become so powerful that it had become nearly insurmountable. 

Ben looked so deceptively untroubled. She knew he felt less pain and conflict each day, but he was struggling mightily with so much. For all his fiery strength and power, he looked so vulnerable. Rather than wake him, she padded into his living quarters and found a blanket to drape over his sleeping form. She pressed a kiss to his temple.

Only then did she take the book she had decided to bring with her and place it, open to a particular page, between the two handwritten pages still sitting on Ben’s enormous wooden desk. On the first he had written the Jedi Code. She had already read that over with him, and she had seen it referred to many times before in some of the other texts. On the other was the Sith Code, something she hadn’t known the existence of:

The Sith Code

As written by Sorzus Syn and taught by Darth Bane

Peace is a lie, there is only passion.  
Through passion, I gain strength.  
Through strength, I gain power.  
Through power, I gain victory.  
Through victory, my chains are broken.  
The Force shall free me.

Ben Solo was unique, she reflected. He had studied the dark side with Snoke—even though his teachings had not been those of the Sith—and he had also studied as a Jedi. Snoke had encourage him to study the Sith, though. Which had been why he was still so insistent that the Jedi and the Sith had to end. To Rey it felt more like he bridged the two, especially now that he was drawing so much more often from the light and not shying from it entirely as he had for so long. 

After setting the book on his desk, she headed back to her bunk. Tomorrow was sure to be an eventful day.

 

+

When Ben awoke a few hours later he noticed the text Rey had left for him. She’d mentioned it weeks ago but they’d been far too preoccupied to sit and study anything. He read the passage she’d left the book open to. A strange feeling washed over him.

 

‘First comes the day, then comes the night.  
After the darkness shines through the light.  
The difference, they say, is only made right  
By the resolving of gray through refined Jedi sight.’

~Journal of the Whills

 

Rather than heading to his bed for the rest of the sleep cycle Ben Solo sat and leafed through a text that no one had read in its entirety for nearly a thousand years.

For some reason, he decided to set the ancient treasure carefully on its edge. Later he could not recall why. But there, tucked snugly into its binding, was a thin sliver of rolled vellum. Gingerly, he extracted it with the help of the slender dagger he kept in his top drawer. He unrolled the miniature scroll to find the following, seemingly written in great haste:

 

Jedi Younglings after waking during an Initiate Trance,

There is no dark side, nor a light side.  
There is only the Force.  
I will do what I must to keep the balance.  
There can be no good without evil,  
But evil must not be allowed to flourish.  
There is passion, yet peace.  
There is serenity, yet emotion.  
There is chaos, yet order.

 

Leor Danal had recited the following during a Force trance:

There must be both dark and light.  
I will do what I can to keep the balance.  
There is no good without evil,  
But evil must not be allowed to flourish.  
There is passion, yet peace;  
Serenity, yet emotion;  
Chaos, yet order.  
I am a wielder of the flame;  
A champion of balance.  
I am a guardian of life.  
I am a Gray Jedi.

 

Ben Solo knew who he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All Codes are sourced from Wookiepedia, and the excerpt from the Journal of the Whills is from ‘The Force Awakens’ novelization.


	17. Eve of Battle

“Finally! Somebody is talking sense! I’ll give you ten minutes to get that through your heads!” Maz Kanata hopped nimbly down from the bar she’d stood on to make her unprecedented announcement.

To the shock of the patrons crowding what remained of the Pirate Queen’s ruined castle, Maz had just broken her famously strict one thousand year prohibition against any talk of politics or war within her walls. In another age Maz’s castle on Lake Nymeve had been a battlefield between ancient Jedi and Sith. In sharp contrast to its history, Maz had tolerated no conflict of any kind under its roof for a millennium. “All are welcome” was emblazoned on every wall of her establishment in hundreds of languages. And they were—provided they kept Maz’s peace.

The diminutive Maz strode over to join the Master Codebreaker in her typical energetic fashion. She adjusted her enormous goggles as she claimed the seat across from where the striking young fellow sat nursing a classic Parkellan Sling. 

“You were right, Ransolm”, she acknowledged. “And so was I. The boy has returned.”

And in spectacular style. 

The room was fairly buzzing with talk of the new Supreme Leader’s stunning holonet broadcast of just moments ago. He had declared himself leader of something he called a ‘New Order’, one with starkly different goals than those of the First Order. 

He had pledged to bring General Armitage Hux to justice for his role in the Hosnian cataclysm, and had announced this New Order’s intention to rid the galaxy of the First Order and its tyranny. 

He’d then asked the entire galaxy to put aside their differences and join New Order forces as they moved to destroy the First Order’s newest superweapon, as well as the huge armada that had gathered to defend it in the Outer Rim. He’d gone on to declare that after the New Order was defeated he intended to relinquish his control of the galaxy to the famously impartial Queen of Naboo. She was to oversee the formation of a new galactic alliance meant to end the cycle of mass warfare that had plagued the galaxy for ages. 

He himself would submit to the will of the Force. (Whatever he meant by that.) 

And he had been responsible for ridding the galaxy of the former Supreme Leader Snoke, although he claimed that Rey of Jakku had stood with him to manage it. (As bewildering as that seemed.) 

Oh, and he was no longer Kylo Ren at all. (Apparently this had something to do with Snoke and the dark side of the Force.) He was, in fact, the long lost Ben Solo so many of them had heard wild tales of for over a decade. (And a name so much of the galaxy could rally around in a heartbeat.)

Discussion was animated, to say the least.

He had dropped quite the series of bombshells across the galaxy all at once, thought Maz. She could feel the effects of them coursing through the Force, not just in the room around her. Yes, this boy had a flair for the dramatic! She decided she thoroughly approved. Maz gave her patrons more than a few extra minutes to get over their shock. Then she hopped back up on the bar, shouting:

“So, who’s coming with me?”

The Pirate Queen could fight for balance.

 

+

 

“So it begins.” The Queen of Naboo nodded to her counsellors after they had taken a brief recess from their labours in order to watch the holonet broadcast of the new Supreme Leader addressing the galaxy for the first time. Hours of thought, hours of study, hours of discussion. All in preparation for their role in what was meant to come next. The Queen prayed the galaxy would see what she had, and that it would rally around the newly revealed Ben Solo.

 

+

 

General Armitage Hux curled his lip in disdain after reviewing the galaxy-wide address by the Supreme Leader of the so-called New Order. What a fool Ren was, thought Hux in satisfaction. Solo—he couldn’t believe that impulsive man-child had reverted to that disgraceful moniker. 

He assured himself that Ren had no idea how difficult it was going to be for him to actually destroy Hux’s newest superweapon, one that would bring the New Order and the rest of the galaxy to heel in short order. Besides, Hux had a fleet of star destroyers nearly as large as the so-called New Order’s fleet to defend it. No, there would be no New Order for the galaxy. The First Order was all that it needed. Hux saw that his time had arrived; he could safely declare himself Supreme Leader of the only order that mattered. 

 

+

 

Admiral Peavey had finished briefing his officers. They would soon be facing an unprecedented situation, that of their star destroyers pitted against those of the First Order—their former colleagues.

It was a fight the New Order had to win despite who manned the other ships, thought Peavey. Supreme Leader Solo—it had been a shock to learn who had truly been under that mask all those years now that he’d ended Snoke’s tyrannical reign—was committed to bringing peace and order to the galaxy in a way that Snoke and Palpatine never had. Peavey found he supported this new approach without question and had been pleased to find that so many others shared his opinion of the man. Solo. Not the raving, volatile force of nature who’d sent them all scurrying in the opposite direction every time he’d had a tantrum—not at all. This was a man who truly wanted order and would not resort to terror to achieve it. So strange that the child of two heroes of the Rebellion would be the one to lead them all out of the chaos the Rebellion and the New Republic had caused to begin with. Such a strange twist of fate. Perhaps it truly was the Force at work, he reflected.

Peavey had made sure that the fleet now under his command was ready for this, its greatest test. Not the shameful terrorization of pitiful forces in whatever star system Snoke had deemed needful of subjugation. They would now face genuine opposition in the name of a noble cause:

The New Order was different. It offered those of integrity the opportunity to serve the galaxy as they’d always hoped to. They had something to fight for, not just something to crush.

He was ready.

 

+

 

*How are they taking it?* Ben sent to Rey, who was standing near the back of the crowded meeting room the leadership of the Resistance had gathered in. She was included because they had officially designated her as ‘Commander’ Rey of Jakku, as befitting her status as a Jedi. Protesting that she was not actually a Jedi at all had fallen on deaf ears. Tradition had been upheld; Poe had called her argument against it splitting hairs.

They had been gathered together when the Supreme Leader’s address had been broadcast, something Rey had informed them of beforehand. She knew they’d found that most unsettling. They’d been awed and wary of her explanation that the Force had forged a connection between the Supreme Leader and their very own Jedi because it sought to bring an end to the galaxy’s deep-rooted conflict.

Chewie knew the most about the deeper nature of their link, and Finn and Rose had very, very strong suspicions she’d done nothing to dissuade. But the rest of the Resistance had only been told that she and the Supreme Leader could use the Force as a comlink of sorts, and that it did not allow for deceit between them. All of which was technically true. And which would, hopefully, allow for some trust to be built between the New Order and the Resistance in very short order. After all, saying ‘May the Force be with you’ had to count for something. People trusted Rey, she knew. Many feared her as well. But it was a beginning.

Rey moved closer to the centre of the room and addressed it:

“Supreme Leader Solo would like to meet to discuss strategy for what he hopes will be our joint attack on the Starkiller.”

Immediately voices started protesting, questioning and arguing amongst themselves. They didn’t have time for this bickering, thought Rey.

*I should speak to them now, don’t you agree?* sent Ben. *Most of them want to kill me outright, so there’s no time like the present.*

 

Rey stepped forward into the centre of the chamber, ensuring there was plenty of room beside her for Ben when he ‘arrived’. The shock of seeing his towering black clad figure appear directly beside Rey caused the entire hall to hush.

“You bastard!”

Reacting purely on instinct, Vice Admiral Poe Dameron drew his blaster and fired at the figure who haunted his nightmares. This was not going quite as planned, thought Admiral Snap Wexley, dryly.

At least the blaster bolt had frozen in midair. Only this time it was Rey who’d caught it. *I see you managed to pay attention despite my efforts to distract you during that particular lesson, Scavenger?* Ben was flirting!

*It’s a crowded room, what am I supposed to do with it now?* Rey fired back in the same split second.

*You could change its trajectory, but there are too many potential targets in here for that to be advisable on your first attempt. Sometimes it’s best to do this instead.* 

With that, Ben Solo stretched out his ungloved hand and pulled the hovering blaster bolt directly toward himself after all. To everyone’s amazement it dissipated into a multitude of glowing fragments before appearing to be absorbed into the palm of his hand.

*Now you’re just showing off, your Supreme smugness!* Rey fought to keep the smirk off her face. She felt him resist the urge to comment on his awareness of the heat he’d felt surge within her when she’d witnessed his display of sheer power. All that fire...and he was hers. She felt him focus his attention on the man who’d fired his blaster. 

“Your reaction is perfectly understandable,” said Ben calmly as he moved within a foot of Dameron. “But we both know I’m nobody’s bastard.” 

Leia’s son and the man who’d been like one now stood within arm’s length of each other. The entire room felt like it was balancing on the edge of a knife.

“You might feel better if you just hit me,” Ben whispered.

The two men continued to stare each other down, one calmly, the other a mass of seething emotion that desperately sought an outlet. So, Poe hauled off and slugged Ben Solo right in the face. Ben didn’t say a word. He ran his fingers through his hair and returned to his place beside Rey.

The meeting between the Supreme Leader of the New Order and the Resistance resumed without incident.

 

+

 

After the two sides had discussed logistics and strategy, only one issue remained. Who would attempt the nearly impossible run, with a small starfighter, deep into the unfinished Starkiller toward a target measuring less than one metre in diameter? This time, only the most elite could even be considered. The dimensions of the labyrinth had been studied extensively by experts within the Resistance as well as the New Order.

It all felt absurdly familiar to Chewie, Lando and Nien Nunb, each of whom had helped bring down one or both of the Empire’s dreaded Death Stars. This weapon was different but the odds felt the same—only this time, there was no Luke Skywalker to make a nearly impossible shot. The Falcon was far too large to make a run at it either, thought Chewie with chagrin. No, the Falcon’s role would be to ensure their most skilled fighter pilots got to the incredibly complicated labyrinth to make a run through it to begin with. The First Order had learned from the Empire’s mistakes as well as its own.

“I will, of course, be leading that assault,” announced Ben Solo. “The specifications of the TIE Silencer make it the craft most likely to reach the target successfully. As you are all aware, TIEs themselves are a poor choice for this endeavour. X-wings, however, are also quite well suited. Who will join me?”

The room was silent once more. No one had expected this. No one but Rey, although Chewie was hardly surprised.

Poe Dameron’s blood was boiling. HE should have been the one leading that critical assault, he felt. Of all the pilots in the galaxy, it should have been him. Damned if he would be Kylo Ren’s wingman.

“I will lead the second run”, Poe stated. 

“I will take your wing, Ben Solo.” Rey had become an astonishingly adept X-wing pilot in a matter of days. And there was no way Ben was going on that nearly suicidal run without her. Ben’s eyes held hers for a moment. They had taken great pains to appear as nothing more than a pair of Force users on opposing sides who had allied themselves only to try and save the galaxy from the second Starkiller, nothing more. But for that brief moment their hearts were in their eyes. Rey felt herself wondering if anyone else in the room sensed the invisible thread that bound them so completely.

The brave and capable Sullustan Nien Nunb pulled himself up to his full height and announced his intentions. He had long been one of the galaxy’s finest pilots. Threepio translated: “Nien Nunb would be proud to fly with the son of Han Solo and our Princess.” Ben nodded his thanks to the Sullustan. After a few final details, the meeting was adjourned.

 

+

 

Shortly afterward, Ben was seated at his desk attempting to complete his notes for a final meeting with Peavey and the rest of his senior staff. Their assault on Hux’s forces would begin the following day, and they were presently moving through hyperspace toward their destination in the Outer Rim. 

He felt the heat of anticipation flare to life within him as his bondmate signalled her intent to appear to him, and a moment later Rey was cross-legged on the desk in front of him once more. Every one of his nerve endings felt attuned to her alone; he had been waiting for her.

“Not so fast, Scavenger,” he breathed into her ear, his strong hands wrapping themselves against the silky skin of her exposed midriff to keep her from escaping to her customary chair beside his desk. Rey thrilled to the feeling of his mouth claiming hers, and as he pulled her onto his lap he could feel her elation and encouragement through the Force. She had been waiting for him, too.

“Where in seven hells did you get that outfit?” Ben whispered, as his mouth burned a trail from her lips to her ear and then down the column of her throat, even as one hand sought its destination under the figure-hugging cropped top of the rather enticing white flight suit Rey had been given before leaving Naboo. She sent him her answer as her hands roamed his powerful back.

“Maker, you mean to tell me that is what passes for practical on that planet?” 

 

They were slightly late for their meeting.

+

 

“Our apologies for having kept you waiting.” Supreme Leader Solo swept into the conference room accompanied by a slender figure in white Admiral Peavey knew to be the young Jedi who’d helped him overthrow Snoke. As far as he was concerned, the entire New Order owed her its thanks.

“Rey of Jakku, it is an honour and a pleasure.” The usually reserved Peavey found himself bending over the lovely young Jedi’s hand and actually kissing the top of it, an uncharacteristic act of gallantry he suspected his wife would have found amusing. Peavey hoped he hadn’t overstepped. But no, the Supreme Leader was looking supremely pleased to be introducing Rey to his commanding officers and to the entire New Order. As he should be, Peavey reflected. It was long overdue.

 

+

 

Alone in his quarters late that night, Ben Solo awoke from the same Force nightmare that had haunted him for days now. His heart was pounding; it was always the very same dream. Why was the Force sending it to him? Was it a warning? Was he to change course in order to avert it? He had no idea what he was meant to do with it. 

“There is no death, there is only the Force.” The words that accompanied the vision were no comfort to him. 

Across the stars, although much closer than usual given that the Resistance fleet was heading in the same direction for tomorrow’s battle, Rey felt his alarm as if it were her own. The Force brought her to him in that moment, just as it had sent him to Rey when it had chosen to torment her with nightmares. 

She was clad only in her white sleeping shift, and when she asked him what was troubling him, all he told her was that she’d already chased his nightmares away. She was only a breath away from him so he folded her gently against his heart until they both closed their eyes and slept.

He felt her sleepily send him a reassurance just before she’d drifted off.*I’ll always be with you, Ben Solo.* It nearly broke his heart.

Because in his dream, Rey still died.


	18. Starkiller

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cue the John Williams music and plenty of explosions...space battles are beyond me.

Hux’s First Order fleet loomed menacingly between that of the New Order and the abomination that was the world-killing second Starkiller. Hux’s secret armada rivalled that of their own, thought the newly promoted Admiral Peavey to himself. Thankfully Hux was a poor military strategist. His shrewdness and cunning had always been limited to advancing and securing his own personal position within the First Order; those below him had long known of his weaknesses as a battlefield tactician. And, crucially, of his refusal to accept advice from those far more adept. Today would mark a reckoning of sorts for the loathed ginger General who styled himself ‘Supreme Leader’. Hux was in for a rude awakening. 

The stalwart Peavey stood on the bridge of the Finalizer, hands clasped behind him and attention riveted on what would soon become the battlefield. Hux would be outmanoeuvred and outnumbered, because the Resistance and countless home fleets from worlds all across the galaxy had joined the fight with every intention of blazing a trail right through Hux’s fleet to the menace that awaited at the edge of the Outer Rim. 

 

+

“Hello there!” Maz Kanata opened a channel to the New Order flagship and hailed the Finalizer. “What can we do for you?” She acknowledged Peavey’s request, then gave the go-ahead to Ransolm Casterfo and the small starfighter squadron he led.

 

Minutes later, the Pirate Queen’s seemingly ramshackle fleet had efficiently eliminated every last one of the surface cannons and turbo lasers of the unfortunate First Order dreadnought Admiral Peavey had directed them toward. 

A pleasant surprise indeed, thought Peavey as he ordered the Finalizer’s guns to obliterate the massive capital ship as soon as the Pirate Queen’s fleet was clear. It was the first capital ship to fall in what would later be recalled as a legendary battle. Never before had anyone witnessed one star destroyer taking down another; it was an incredible sight to behold. 

And the first of many like it, for the Resistance, the New Order, and Maz’s plucky armada had been joined by the home fleets of planets from all across the galaxy. They had heeded Ben Solo’s call and had united for a single purpose. Hux’s First Order was being decimated.

 

+

Hux stared in disbelief as the First Order’s massive fleet was methodically picked apart by the expertise of the seasoned veterans on the opposing side. He had been completely outmanoeuvred. Most humiliating of all, seven of his star destroyers had actually surrendered without firing a shot to the New Order. Hux had a new loathing for Peavey and his machinations. He had no idea that the Master Codebreaker’s efforts, along with those of Lando Calrissian’s L3 team, had allowed all of it to happen under his very nose.

It had seemed impossible, but the galaxy had actually come running when Ren—or Solo—had begged it to. As if any true leader begged for anything, Hux reminded himself. 

Soon enough the galaxy would be begging Armitage Hux for something else entirely: mercy. Yes, the fleet was gone. But what was any army, next to the sheer power of his Starkiller? No cannons could penetrate the incredibly powerful shield surrounding it. His engineers had assured him the superweapon was within hours of becoming operational; he had teams working overtime to ensure it. He would then unleash its power on the system of his choice. Naboo would do. That would bring the fleet besieging him to heel quickly enough. No one could withstand the power of what he had wrought.

+

Nothing stood between Hux and his plans but the small groups of the galaxy’s most elite starfighters, who were making their way toward Starkiller and its nearly unnavigable labyrinth. At its heart of lay their only hope of destroying it. 

The fighters would need to approach at lightspeed to get below its shields and then work their way to their target.

+

Poe Dameron and his squadron were hot on the heels of the first trio of fighters preparing to assault the Starkiller. Once they had gotten past the shields and come out of lightspeed, a difficult enough manoeuvre, Nien Nunb closed his comm channel to everyone but Rey and Ben.

“Finally had some sense knocked into you, eh? Better late than never.” The Sullustan’s heavily accented Basic wasn’t easy for most beings to understand, but the two Force users he flew with had no difficulty comprehending him. Ben recognized the question as rhetorical and responded with a question of his own: “Why did you return the Chalcedony Waves? Why send them to Naboo at all? You earned them.”

“I wasn’t quite pretty enough to keep them! Besides, I had a feeling someone might find a use for a family heirloom like that!” The Sullustan chuckled as the trio banked to avoid fire. Poe Dameron’s entire squadron was behind them helping clear out surface guns and enemy fighters.

“A feeling,” Ben said, levelly. (He wondered how much of this ‘feeling’ the sarcastic Sullustan alluded to was due to a certain hairy uncle’s tendency to gossip with a select few. Nunb being one of the few.)

“Ha ha! Have plans for it, do you? Boy, I would have returned that necklace years ago, except I didn’t want to risk offending your mother.” The Sullustan fired several quick shots in succession to down the three TIEs approaching from the port side.

“I can’t believe the two of you are discussing jewellery like a pair of old women!” Rey scoffed, blowing two TIEs out of the way as she scolded them, and leaving the last one for Ben.

“Believe me when I tell you this character can do a whole lot more than talk and fly at the same time! Ackbar himself would have told you that Nien can fly anything, in any conditions.”

The cheeky Sullustan chortled in response as he blasted another three enemy fighters approaching on their port side.

“Naboo?” Rey’s brow furrowed. She was not especially interested in jewellery but recalled how emotional Ben had been about that necklace she’d worn to Canto Bight. She had felt sentimental about it herself, given that Leia was gone. “Does he mean the one you had me wear?” Rey inquired, still finding the conversation bizarrely unsuited to the middle of an approach run toward the second Starkiller.

“Yes.” Ben pursed his lips in mild exasperation even as one corner of his mouth threatened to tilt up in a grin. He blasted another three TIEs approaching from above as Rey and the Sullustan made quick work of six others. Nien’s was a voice he hadn’t heard since his childhood. 

“Ha! Solos don’t waste time!” The Sullustan roared with laughter as he and Rey banked their X-wings and followed Ben’s TIE Silencer into the treacherous labyrinth of the second Starkiller.

+

They’d done it. And on their very first run, thank the Force.

Now it was a race against time as they and the ships they’d commed in warning raced away from the blazing danger the exploding Starkiller had become. More than one ship was engulfed despite their best efforts to escape the destruction. All remaining fighters were racing for the hangar bays of the Luke Skywalker and the Princess of Alderaan before the Resistance’s two largest capital ships followed the rest of their fleet and made the jump to Naboo.

New Order and surrendered First Order star destroyers were already jumping to lightspeed, following their Supreme Leader’s orders to rendezvous at Naboo immediately following the battle. The only exception was the flagship Finalizer as it awaited the triumphant return of Ben Solo. 

Maz’s fleet and the home fleets of so many of the other worlds across the galaxy were heeding the same call. Naboo, and the peace that was promised, was everyone’s goal. 

+

Chaos reigned in those frantic minutes of the flight away from the Starkiller, and in those moments surely no one would notice the fate of a lone starfighter—the ship whose occupant was the last remaining threat to galactic peace. 

He had him directly in his sights now, that monster who had the nerve to call himself Ben Solo. He knew Kylo Ren to have been playing the deepest game of all, one in which he had contrived to have the rest of the galaxy do his dirty work for him and eliminate the First Order so that unimpeded control of the galaxy would be his. There could be no peace when a soul as dark as Kylo Ren’s held the reigns of power. Kylo Ren had made it clear the New Republic would be no more.

He alone still saw the monster for what he truly was, he knew. He was about to do the galaxy a great service. Poe Dameron set his sights on the sleek black TIE Silencer and fired.

+

A jubilant Rey, Ben and Nien were still whooping and trading tales as they banked their ships above a nearby moon, one so insignificant no one had ever thought to give it more than a number on a star chart. Nien had just turned his ship about in order to head to the Luke Skywalker in the Falcon’s wake, and Rey had just announced that she meant to accompany Ben to the Finalizer. 

Ben Solo hadn’t sensed it coming until the moment before impact, when a wave of ill intent roared through the Force toward him and he instinctively juked his fighter to one side. The blast clipped the Silencer, rendering Ben Solo unconscious and sending his Silencer spiralling out of control. 

Poe was about to take a second shot when, to his absolute horror, he saw Rey’s X-wing dive toward the Silencer and somehow lock wings with it, joining it in a death spiral toward the surface of the moon below. 

How could he have known Rey would fly toward Ren like that? As if acting on some mad impulse to slow his fall? Neither ship would survive what he’d seen the beginnings of, he knew. 

Poe turned and raced for the Luke Skywalker in horror. In singlehandedly ridding the galaxy of what he knew to be its greatest threat, he’d just killed the woman he was in love with. 

In his shock, he hadn’t realized that a certain Sullustan had witnessed everything. 

+

Ashen faced, Poe Dameron stumbled out of the brand new X-wing he was so proud of, barely registering the throngs of cheering Resistance members gathered in the hangar to welcome back the jubilant pilots. Ignoring the arms that reached to embrace him or clap him on the back, he trudged to the bridge of the Luke Skywalker. BB-8 trundled along in his wake, beeping his confusion. 

Poe couldn’t join in the celebrations surging through the corridors. He made his way to the bridge, where he stood in a daze, his bright orange flight suit a sharp contrast to the drab uniforms of the rest of the Resistance leadership. Everyone was exultant.

Of course, he was the only one who knew—the only one who knew that their Jedi was gone. 

+

What happened next was very much a blur for Lieutenant Kaydel Connix.

First, Poe had stumbled onto the bridge looking stricken and not at all like a man who realized that the Starkiller and the First Order had been defeated.

Next, the Wookie Chewbacca had stormed onto the bridge roaring with a fury no one could mistake. He had uttered a primal roar of menace at the Vice Admiral and had flung him up against a wall, letting him crumple to the floor. Then, the legendary Wookie had stalked off toward the Falcon, Finn and Rose trailing him in confusion.

For once Threepio elected not to translate.The golden protocol droid broke the stunned silence:

“Come along, Artoo. Chewbacca, wait for us!” 

The Sullustan Nien Nunb had entered next, hurrying over to General Lando Calrissian and muttering something unintelligible that Calrissian evidently interpreted as a signal to leave. The two of them exited the bridge in silence, heading immediately to the hangar bay. 

It felt like something had ended.

+

Poe lay sprawled on the floor, winded and stunned. He looked up into Lieutenant Connix’s face, her eyes searching his for answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few months ago someone posted a fic that had Rey and Ben crashing their ships together and spiralling downward in similar fashion. Whoever you were, thank you for the inspiration! I have shamelessly borrowed your vision for my own purposes. If anyone knows the name of that fanfic, let me know so that I can give credit where it is due.
> 
> ****Thank you to lunalunemoon for letting me know that the fic I am referring to, by anonymouslyme8, is entitled “Moment of Weakness”. Thank you to the author, and thank you, kind reader!!***


	19. Love is the Balance

He felt the silence first. His head cleared and he found himself still strapped into the cockpit of his Silencer. Silence.

Then it hit him like a tidal wave—Rey’s agony. She was so near.

Fumbling at his restraints, Ben stumbled out of the cockpit, his boots sinking into the sparkling blanket of new-fallen snow that carpeted the forest floor of the moon they’d crashed on. 

Or rather, that she’d crashed on. She must have summoned the Force to protect him, somehow catching hold of his fighter. The Silencer was undamaged except where it had been fired upon. It had been set down gently into the snow, which could only have been Rey’s doing.

His brave, beautiful Rey. So fierce, so strong, thinking only of saving him, selfless wonder that she was.

He could feel her brightness calling to him now, guiding his steps as he half-ran, half-limped through the wintry half-light of the forest until he found her. Another forest. Always a forest, for them.

 

+++

 

She lay so still, snowflakes sparkling against the darkness of her hair, which had been braided into a crown beneath the helmet she’d worn earlier. Thrown from the cockpit of her crumpled X-wing, her sleek white flight suit offered little protection from the chill of the snow banked around her. 

There she lay, just as she always had every time the Force had seen fit to send him a glimpse of this nightmare. Snowflakes melted as they kissed the warmth of her. Bile rose in his throat as he saw the inevitable crimson seeping from her side, its vibrance staining the whiteness of the snow she lay half-buried in. The wreckage had torn into her, shredding her inside. His sweet fierce Rey had been so intent on cushioning his fall from the sky that she hadn’t called on enough of the Force to slow her own fall sufficiently.

Her waves of pain felt like his own, and as he reached her he cradled her face in his hands.

She sensed the comfort of his presence and opened her beautiful hazel eyes to meet his for what his dream had already shown him would be the last time.

“I love you.” They whispered the words aloud to each other, though their souls had long known the truth. Rey closed her eyes and their lips met as sweetly as they ever had. Ben felt her begin to slip away from him, just as she always had in his dream.

*Hold me.* And so he did.

Ben Solo felt powerless; he had never been able to channel the Force for healing, and he could sense the extent of the damage to Rey’s body. She was far beyond the help of any medical droid, or even of a master Jedi healer from ages past. He wished he had the power to change her destiny. His Rey would become one with the Force, and only because she’d fought so hard to save him.

She was bleeding bright red agony into the Force, just as his kyber had when he’d taken its purity and had stained it with the darkness of his hatred. Only in her case her life was draining away because of her selflessness. The power of her love overwhelmed Ben, and he fought to lessen her suffering as waves of pain coursed through her dying frame.

Ben Solo understood pain; Snoke had made sure of it. Only with Rey had he been able to find a balance within himself and begin to replace pain with hope. He steeled himself and enfolded what he could still sense of Rey into the core of him, shielding her consciousness as best he could, intent on absorbing her agony and making it his to endure. He knew he had the strength for it. It was all he could do for her now, the one final gift he could make to her.

+++

Ben Solo was right; no Jedi healer had ever been able to channel the Living Force to save the life of one so badly broken as Rey.

But the Cosmic Force—that which Snoke and Luke Skywalker had sensed the faintest glimmers of—it was something else entirely. It was a power well beyond anything the young pair huddled in the snow had any concept of.

It sensed the heartfelt cry of despair from deep within its Chosen One, this one who had come so far and now asked nothing for himself. This Force could feel the truth of it, because Ben Solo had always been meant as its tool. He had begun to bring the balance that was needed to the galaxy. And this Chosen One had killed to protect the one he held to his heart; he would willingly trade his corporeal life for that of his catalyst. Love was the balance. The Force sought balance.

It moved through Ben Solo’s hand, which he had kept pressed to Rey’s side in a vain effort to staunch her bleeding, and then through his forehead where it still rested against hers. It began flowing into Rey to heal the damage her sacrifice had wrought on her fragile corporeal self. Ben felt it; he felt Rey’s flesh begin to heal beneath his touch, and his soul was suffused with unbridled joy and wonder. He who could never before channel the Force for healing could feel an awesome new power flooding through him to strengthen Rey.

It was as if all the love he had for her was caressing every inch of her, repairing the damage caused by the snarl of metal that had torn into her. Filled with relief and gratitude, Ben Solo poured the very essence of all that he was into his beloved Rey.

The Force had allowed him to save her, after all.

“There is no death, there is only the Force.”

Rey awoke to the feeling of being enveloped by Ben’s warmth, his words like the gentlest of kisses to her spirit.

She blinked as she became fully aware of her surroundings, and she reached for her Ben.

He was cradling her in his arms, she realized, his powerful body sheltering hers as best he could from the cold. He was so dark against the faintly sparkling snow.

He was so still.

He was too still.

The weight of his arm was too heavy at her waist. Tucked against his heart as she was, she could not feel its steady beat. She felt nothing from the still form against hers.

Rey watched in disbelief as snowflakes fell and stayed on Ben’s cheek, his long lashes and his dark hair.

None of them melted.

Rey suddenly couldn’t feel the cold. Nor could she sense the presence of the luminous blue figure behind her, the one who ached to pull her into his arms.


	20. Darkness Rises

It was too much. Too much to ask of either of them, it seemed.

They had each been too long alone.

Too lonely.

Did they not understand?

Could this Chosen One truly prefer the crude matter of his frail former body, the one that now lay slumped in the snow, to that of the luminous, eternal form he now existed in?

Could his catalyst not sense her own bondmate’s presence right behind her? For never before had a pair been so closely linked. No, her towering will was burning itself out wishing him back into the still form she clung to in the cold.

They were not ready. They did not yet understand. Touch for them was as precious as water in the desert, and this pair had starved for it for too much of their lives. 

The Force had learned, of course. It could not risk another fall such as that of the first Skywalker, the one whom only his son’s hope had redeemed. That had brought some balance, at least for a time. And that son had gained so much wisdom himself, far more than any other in ages. No, too much was at stake now, with the darkness gathering at the edge of the Outer Rim. 

This pair was meant to continue to find the balance that was needed.

The tasks that lay ahead would be more difficult for a mortal pair—there was risk, here.

But there was greater risk in the present situation.

It would be a simple enough wish to fulfill. Enough of him still lived within her.

 

So the Force obliged. It allowed Rey to call Ben Solo back into the still form that lay in her arms, and in doing so entrusted her with truly incredible new power. He returned to the mortal realm willingly, joyfully. He once more drew breath, and his heart resumed its steady beat against Rey’s hand.

Tears of disbelief and gratitude streamed down Rey’s face and and began to freeze against her skin. Her Ben. He wasn’t gone.

 

+++

 

“There! There they are, Chewie!”

Finn and Rose were racing down the ramp before Chewie had even fully lowered it, rushing toward the two figures huddled in the snow.

 

+++

 

“We’ve found them. I repeat, we’ve found them. The Millennium Falcon is en route to the Finalizer. Requesting immediate medical assistance upon arrival.”

The entire squadrons of TIEs Peavey had insisted on dispatching to search for Lord Solo could return. 

His sudden new faith in the Force had been rewarded after all.

And no compulsion had been required.

 

+++

 

As Chewie gently carried a still unconscious Ben down the ramp so that he and Rey could be whisked away for medical treatment, Finn and Rose slowly emerged from the Falcon.

To their utmost shock, they were crisply saluted by the protocol officer waiting for them at the foot of the ramp.

That was followed by another salute from the battalion of Stormtroopers that had formed up in front of the legendary freighter, one that had long been the scourge of so many aboard the Finalizer.

“Finn FN-2187 and Rose Tico, I believe? Welcome to the New Order.”

 

+++

 

Not long afterward, Chewie, Rose, Finn, Artoo and Threepio were gathered in the Supreme Leader’s study and were meeting with Admiral Peavey. They had opened a secure channel in order to communicate recent events to the Queen of Naboo. All were relieved to learn that the pair currently curled up in Ben Solo’s enormous bed had been given a clean bill of health by the medical droids who’d seen to them. While it was worrisome the Supreme Leader remained unconscious, there was no apparent physical cause for it. Rest was best, they had insisted. Rey had not left Ben’s side for even a moment. She had clearly been too exhausted for any explanations about what had transpired, so that had left plenty of room for speculation.

 

“Did you see all that blood? It was all over her, and all over the snow. But neither one had a scratch on them by the time we got there!” Some serious Force business had gone down on that moon—Finn was sure of it. 

Chewie was still impressed both fighters had landed safely. Relatively safely, that was. The Force again, he insisted, as Threepio translated. No one was about to argue the point.

While Peavey was reluctant to let the pair out of his sight given the attempt on Ben Solo’s life, he eventually acquiesced to the Queen’s insistence that Ben and Rey be taken to the palace and safely hidden away in the heart of it until they had both fully recovered. No one else would be informed that they were there, or that they were even alive. 

The Wookie had been very firm on that last point, Peavey noted. And equally insistent that his Little One (the golden droid’s translation!) would benefit from the fresh air and sunshine of being planetside once more. 

 

+++

 

Golden rays of sunlight streamed through the tall windows of the luxurious bedchamber in the suite of rooms where Rey and Ben had been hidden away. 

Elite security teams ensured their safety, not that the Queen had any genuine concerns about a repetition of what had occurred over that nameless moon. 

The peace process had begun, after all. 

 

+++

 

Rey awoke, taking a long moment to gaze at the beloved face resting so near her own.

He looked so different now, younger somehow. His soft sleep shirt was white, and she realized it was the first time she’d seen him in anything but black. She decided both suited him equally well. 

Her fingertips gently traced the scar she’d given him. The one he’d sworn to keep even after she’d offered to heal him as she had Lyda. He looked as though he’d been carved of marble.

His heartbeat was strong, and his breathing deep and even. 

But she could not sense his thoughts, not even when she tried her best to link her mind with his as she always had since they’d learned to do it. It was as though he wasn’t truly there. The medical droids had insisted that Ben was not in a coma, that he was just resting. However, she could sense through the Force that this was far from an ordinary sleep. 

For the first time she could recall, Rey began to feel truly afraid.

As the fear took hold of her, a rage began to build inside her. 

As the anger began to intensify, she found herself stripping off her silken sleeping shift and rummaging in the wardrobe until she found something—anything—to put on.

A filmy peach confection of a gown was closest at hand; it would do. At least it was simple by the standards of this planet, and very easy to put on. It was cut to her size, of course. Rey sensed the Queen’s hand in that but dismissed it as inconsequential as she pulled on the delicate matching slippers that had been set directly beneath it.

Rey didn’t bother checking her reflection in the gilded mirror beside the wardrobe. She surveyed the room until her gaze found Ben’s lightsaber. The one Kylo Ren had fashioned. She called it to her hand, taking one last glance at Ben’s quiet form before storming out of the bedchamber. The saber seemed to sense her intent, and it hummed in her hands with anticipation.

She knew who she sought.

 

+++

 

The heavy bronze doors of the grand audience chamber slammed against its hallowed walls with a deafening thud.

Gilded chandeliers shook overhead, while the marble floors themselves seemed to tremble underfoot as the slim figure in the pale gown advanced toward them.

Hair unbound, eyes flashing, Rey of Jakku stormed into the very centre of the circular chamber filled with thousands of representatives of those who’d fought at the Last Battle, the one that had meant the end of the First Order and had heralded the beginning of a new era for the galaxy. 

Only a handful of them had known what had become of her. Or of the former Supreme Leader.

She was terrrible and beautiful all at once, and Poe Dameron knew she had come for him. She looked like some sort of avenging angel, and he knew she was right to seek him. He had fired on the man who’d led them all here, to this moment in history. Poe had believed he’d killed her doing it. The minute they’d landed on Naboo he had felt the depth of his wrongdoing all over again. All of it was real. The move toward peace, toward something new. He had been wrong, and now he looked into the face he’d loved and felt her hatred of him.

One hand outstretched, with the simplest gesture Rey hauled Poe Dameron out of his seat so that he hovered before her in the centre of the chamber.

She was livid.

She kept him there, completely immobilized, just as Snoke had so cruelly kept her captive not so very long ago.

Rey’s eyes were blazing when bolts of Force lightning exploded from her fingertips and shot Poe Dameron to the other side of the circular area at the centre of the audience chamber.

Not even the Queen made a sound.

 

+++

 

Ben was jolted awake. Rey! She was falling. He could feel her fear and the anguish roiling in her mind. Inky black hatred was streaming out of her Force presence, blocking his immediate attempt to soothe her through their link. He felt her being pulled too far into darkness. He could sense where she was, and the thousands of eyes upon her.

With not a moment to lose, he hastily traded pyjama bottoms for the black trousers folded near the boots he hauled on next. He decided there was nothing wrong with a plain white shirt at a moment like this; he was hardly naked. Rey’s naked need and fear outweighed all other considerations as he reached for his bondmate through the Force and pulled himself to her side in an instant.

 

+++

 

Rey’s face was expressionless, her eyes unblinking, as she ignited Kylo Ren’s lightsaber.

The angry, crackling blade had never felt more like an extension of her. 

As he recovered from the excruciating pain of the jolts of Force lightning, Poe tried to prop himself up on his elbows from where he’d been flung on his back.

The entire hall watched, transfixed, as the beautiful Jedi in the pale gown stalked toward him until the tip of that infamous lightsaber was mere inches from his throat.

 

There was an audible gasp from the room when the tall figure in the rumpled white shirt appeared just a few feet away from Rey.

The room was so quiet that many of its occupants would later say they’d heard him—they’d heard him whisper just one word:

“Rey.”

Just one word.

She had turned to him then, toward the tall man with the tousled dark hair. The one they’d realized was the mysterious Ben Solo, who had vanished with Rey of Jakku immediately following the Last Battle. 

They watched as he extended a hand to her.

The expression on her face transformed into one of the purest joy as she deactivated the lightsaber and flung herself into his arms, only to have him twirl her around and bury his face in her shoulder as her arms wrapped around him.

Ben Solo didn’t care who in the galaxy saw him do it; nothing mattered but Rey.

As he had the Force pull them away from the audience chamber and back to their sanctuary, most of the room witnessed what was probably the most passionate kiss they’d seen outside of any holodrama. Or even in one, for that matter.

 

Maz Kanata chuckled loudly. 

“I wonder if that’s what he meant by submitting to the will of the Force?”

 

 

+

+++


	21. And Light to Meet It

Snatches of birdsong and the faint tinkling of courtyard fountains were all that broke the silence of their sun-kissed sanctuary. Gone was the raging tempest of a short time ago, the startling storm that had sent lightning dancing across what only moments earlier had been a clear blue Naboo sky.

Gone as well were all traces of Rey’s colossal fury, swollen to frightening proportions, which had threatened to engulf her as never before. She hadn’t realized how easily she’d always balanced the light and darkness within her until that precious balance had been upset. Now, she lay peacefully enfolded in the arms of the one who’d called her back from the brink of falling too far into that darkness, a desolate place he himself had known too well for too long.

“Rey.”

The sound of her name on his lips, the velvet of it, was all it had taken to recall her to herself, and to remind her that she was not alone.

“Rey!” 

On that other day, hoarse and barely audible in the throne room when they’d been trapped by the last of the Praetorian guard, his frantic whisper amplified by the Force link they shared. That miraculous bond had enabled him to communicate all that she’d needed to defeat her final opponent—all in the space of a heartbeat. He’d saved her then, too. And then she’d returned the favour by throwing him the Skywalker lightsaber.

Rey’s hand rested lightly on the comforting solidity of his chest in the late afternoon sunshine, their limbs in a blissful tangle. Ben trailed his fingertips lightly along her hip, tracing random patterns in a kind of calligraphy on its smoothness.

They’d come together with the same passion and wildness that had crackled between them that day on the Supremacy. The staggeringly deep current that had always thrummed between them, so insistent, always sparking with possibility—with inevitability—had finally pulled them headlong into it just as the Force had always intended. It had felt like destiny when they’d at last allowed themselves to be swept away by the rightness of it.

Rey had felt Ben holding himself in check at first, willing himself to be gentle with her, the one she knew he loved and cherished beyond measure. She hadn’t stood for it—not Rey. The flame he’d kindled and stoked had become a raging fire in the heart of her. She met him with a hunger that matched his own, and together they had abandoned themselves to the wild torrent of Force energy coursing between them. They’d seared themselves into each others’ bodies as completely as they’d melded their souls.

 

Exhausted and utterly sated, the two, each one so long alone and untouched, savoured the simple gift of each others’ presence. Together, they pondered the deep new currents of power that swirled around them. Something had changed on that snowy moon when they’d nearly lost each other.

“Something is different.” Rey felt Ben’s breath on her hair and the rumble of his voice against her ear where it rested on his chest.

Yes, it was. It was the same link, of course. The same link that had Ben burning to protect her even as he lusted to consume her. His beautiful guiding light, who’d stood with him just as he’d foreseen in the firelight when the truth of what they were meant to be had first struck with the force of lightning. The same bond that had seen Rey surrender herself completely to his keeping on the Supremacy, trusting that he would rise from the darkness and indeed refuse to bow before Snoke.

They had both been right. They had both been wrong. They had both been bound.

Something new and unfathomably powerful had sprung from the energy between them, an ability to sense the glory of the Force in a way neither had ever before experienced.

“I feel it, too.” Rey whispered to Ben as he linked their fingers and looked into her eyes questioningly. 

Ben’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “Wasn’t that my line?” A corner of his mouth tilted upward at the distant memory.

They could both sense it, that which the Force was nudging them toward.

Something was stirring.

They had a role to play.They would leave for Ahch-to, powerful Force nexus that it was, within another day.

They needed to prepare.

But for now, they could simply revel in the gift they’d been given in the other.

 

So Ben pulled his love toward him for a steadily deepening kiss, one hand trailing down her spine until it he once more found the sweetness of her and stroked until her body flooded them both with the joy of it.

Rey moaned into his mouth as she felt the magnificent length of him thrust into her to fill her so perfectly, and they resumed a rhythm, so bright and new for them, that felt as ancient and beautiful as the galaxy itself.

Their bonding was complete; their souls and minds gloriously unguarded and as thoroughly entwined as their bodies.

Which was precisely how Rey discovered Ben’s intention to make her a proposal of marriage.

(Marry you? You’re asking me to?)

For the very first time, Ben had to consider their Force bond an enormous liability. He groaned.

“Not this way! This is not how it’s done!” (The proposal part, he meant—not what was making it nearly impossible for him to form coherent thoughts.)

Why ever not, he felt her wondering. She’d been aware that people in the galaxy often married, even if it was nearly unheard of on the hardscrabble backwater that was Jakku. She thought the Force had well and truly married them already, didn’t he agree?

(Yes, he did.)

But if he wanted her to be his wife, and for him to be her husband in what the rest of the galaxy considered the conventional sense then she certainty didn’t have any objection.

(Good grief, Scavenger, this is not at all how I’d intended to bring this up!)

As they continued their timeless dance, Ben resorted to sending her flashes of how he’d pictured a ‘proper’ proposal.

(Oh, lovely, Ben. Quite beautiful and romantic, really. Except did he not remember that things had never exactly gone smoothly between them any time he’d knelt before her on previous occasions?)

He swore to remedy that as soon as possible.

“You will be the death of me yet, Rey of Jakku!” He was having serious trouble continuing any form of mental communication...

(Rey of Jakku—when I marry you, Ben, does that mean I finally have a right to another name, too?)

Of course it did. But only if she wanted it. 

(She did.)

How ironic. Solo. Meaning alone. 

Neither one of them to ever be alone again.

According to legend, the hearts of the brightest stars were those of kyber.

She burned like a kyber at the heart of him.

And he in hers.


	22. Mirrorbright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A return to Varykino.

“Excellent! May I be the first to congratulate you both!” Queen Cassiana of Naboo was beaming as she took their hands and wished the obviously radiant couple well.

Force only knew they deserved the joy of each other after all they’d been through. (And could they now please hurry up and relocate themselves to Varykino? Before all the—er—‘energy’ this togetherness brought with it actually brought the entire palace down around everyone’s ears? And as for that bizarre storm—it was all quite enough!)

The Queen caught Ben Solo’s eyes twinkling as his lips twitched just then, almost as if he’d read her mind. (Surely he hadn’t?)

They, Admiral Peavey, Finn, Rose, Chewie, Threepio and Artoo had gathered to review the events of a truly momentous day in the history of the galaxy. Those who had been part of the assembly had been well pleased with the progress that had been made.

Of course, Rey’s treatment of Vice Admiral Poe Dameron had confounded nearly everyone else.

Until Poe Dameron had stood up, brushed himself off, and had confessed to his colossal failure of judgment in front of the gathered thousands.

There had been outrage; many had called for his immediate punishment, or at the very least a trial. However, Queen Cassiana had intervened. She’d insisted that since he who’d been most grievously wronged by Dameron had elected to show mercy the rest of them should follow suit.

Dameron had left, disgraced but with his head still attached to his shoulders.

 

And now there was a wedding to plan, true cause for celebration! The Queen could picture it already. Such a splendid way to usher in the birth of the New Galactic Alliance. After all, these two had essentially created it. Oh, they were in a hurry, that much was apparent. No matter—she could easily ensure that suitable preparations were completed in a matter of weeks. Yes, the...

“No.” Ben’s voice, quiet but insistent, broke her happy train of thought.(Surely he hadn’t read her mind after all?) “We’d like it to be immediately.”

“He can’t help it, it all comes as naturally as breathing to him”, Rey whispered, smiling at the Queen reassuringly.

(Oh, so did that mean she could do it as well? Read minds? Not just try and control those not strong enough to resist? Unheard of! A fine time to learn that!)

Queen Cassiana nearly stamped her foot in uncharacteristic exasperation.

“Absolutely not! The galaxy deserves to share in this and in all that it represents.” The Queen had completely abandoned the trademark low monotone that was a hallmark of her office, suddenly sounding like a thoroughly irritated sixteen-year-old girl. She put her hands on her hips in decidedly unladylike fashion, preparing to stare down Lord-Former-Supreme-Leader-of-the-Galaxy and show him the error of his ways.

Ben could almost picture steam coming out of the tiny queen’s ears, and before he could stop himself he threw back his head and laughed. Kriff, she was stubborn. And feisty!

“I’m sorry, it’s just that you reminded me so much of my mother just now.” He brushed away the tears forming in the corners of his eyes before anyone but Rey could notice them.

“I’m your cousin, you idiot!”

Ben’s eyebrows flew nearly to his hairline.

“My grandfather was your grandmother’s younger brother. I’m the first Naberrie to be elected Queen since Padme, although I can’t imagine ever filling her shoes.”

Ben was speechless. He’d never considered the prospect of family beyond that of the one he’d lost—the people he’d sent to their deaths one way or another.

“You’re my cousin?” he repeated, his eyes searching hers.

The Queen nodded before continuing. “Avani Naberrie. That’s what you’re allowed to call me, unless I have white paint and a red dot or two on my face at the moment.”

Impulsively, she reached forward to pull her her very large, very formidable, very stunned-looking cousin into the first hug he’d gotten from a blood relation since he’d been a boy. Soon enough, Rey was somehow wrapped up in it as well.

“Well. That’s just perfect!” Rose Tico figured she’d seen just about everything.

 

+++

 

Much less than perfect was the series of confusing Force visions Ben had been sent during the mysterious period he’d been unconscious. 

A new threat loomed over the galaxy.

“So as you can see, Ben and I need to leave, at least by this time tomorrow evening.” Rey explained.

“We can’t be certain of the nature of the threat that approaches. The entire fleet needs to be on its guard,” Ben continued.

The Queen, formally the head of the New Alliance, nodded to Admiral Peavey. Peavey nodded to her and to Lord Solo. 

To Peavey he’d always remain Lord Solo. The stalwart Admiral would see to it that the fleet be placed on high alert as it embarked on the urgent humanitarian aid missions it had recently been assigned to.

Which left only the matter of seeing Ben and Rey married as quickly as they wished to be.

“Might I make a suggestion?” Threepio asked Artoo to play a recording made many decades earlier, right there on Naboo.

It was the never-before-seen footage of the legendary secret wedding of Padme Amidala Naberrie to Anakin Skywalker, the star-crossed lovers whose union had eventually plunged the entire galaxy into chaos.

Other than for the presiding officiant himself, Threepio and Artoo had borne the only witness to that secret, forbidden union that had been solemnized so long ago on the sun-drenched terrace at Varykino.

Varykino, thought the Queen. Perfect.

“Is there anything of any significance in the entire Skywalker saga that one or the other of you hasn’t somehow been a part of?” Chewbacca mumbled to Threepio and Artoo while the humans chattered away about wedding plans and prepared for immediate departure to the countryside.

Not much, Threepio mused.

 

+++

 

Rey gave a little squeal of surprise as Ben Solo literally swept her off her feet and carried her through the grand entryway of Varykino, the stately country retreat tucked away in Naboo’s Lake District.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she laughed, as he set her back down once they’d crossed the threshold.

“Doing things properly!” Rose insisted, from somewhere just behind them.

(At least I managed to do this part the way I meant to, Scavenger!) Ben winked at Rey, smiling as he sent her that thought.

Rey had not grown up familiar with any of the traditions that Rose, Avani and even Admiral Peavey were busy discussing as the entire party arrived at Varykino in preparation for the next day’s small, private wedding ceremony.

“Better than carrying her off like a rag doll to your lair like you did that first time!” To his surprise, Finn found himself actually cracking a joke with the former Kylo Ren, and Chewie nodded his agreement.

“What do you mean?” asked Rey.

“Oh sweetheart, remember the first time we met? When you shot me after I chased you around the woods? When I Force-stunned you and you were my...guest?” He grinned at her, realizing how completely absurd that now sounded.

Rey snorted in amusement, which made nearly everyone laugh.

“Well, it was me who carried you to my shuttle. I guess I wasn’t going to let anyone else lay a hand on you, not even then.”

“Disturbingly romantic, now that I think about it,” grimaced Finn.

Chewie rumbled a comment, which Threepio was kind enough to translate for those who needed it:

“According to Chewbacca, even back on Takodana Mistress Rey had you by the...”

“Enough!” Ben cut in. He could feel his ears turning red under his hair, and he could see Rey blushing furiously. They’d both understood every rather crude word Chewie’d said.

“The two of you will have interesting tales to tell your children,” observed Avani, dryly.

 

+++

 

Rose and the Queen-who-was-now-a-cousin had encouraged Ben and Rey to observe traditional protocol on the eve of their nuptials. However, they had decided to break with tradition and had refused to be parted from each other at all, not even for the night before their wedding.

Long after their guests had retired for the night the two of them had Force-crafted wedding bands for each other. Not everyone in the galaxy who chose to marry even wore them, but they’d decided to.

Chewie had been the source of the small, mysterious silvery bar of purest Chalcedony, shrugging after presenting it to them after dinner at Varykino that evening.

They’d made their bands together, facing each other cross-legged on the very same terrace they’d be married on the next morning. The Force had blessed them with a new gift—the power to create—and they’d felt it burning in them the moment Chewie had handed them the Chalcedony. And so they’d made each other rings, liking the way the circles seemed to symbolize their being bound for eternity. The Force seemed to sing around them as their rings formed in midair.

Smiling at his future bride in the moonlight, Ben Solo looked up at the stars above. The next moment, in a flash of inspiration, he took the remainder of the Chalcedony and with his imagination fashioned a delicate circlet of tiny stars as a bridal gift for his Rey.

“For you, Queen of my heart”, he whispered as he leaned forward to crown her with the exquisite creation. He gave her the sweetest of kisses as he placed it on her brow and asked her to wear it for him on their wedding day. 

Afterward, their tasks complete, they’d held each other close as they’d gazed up at the night sky from where they leaned against the stone balustrade. Great challenges lay ahead, they knew. They Force had shown them that much. This precious time of peace together was meant to be treasured.

The moon had been full, and it was perfectly reflected in the calm waters of the lake below. Much to Rey’s surprise and delight Ben began to sing, ever so softly:

‘Mirrorbright shines the moon, its glow as  
soft as an ember.  
When the moon is mirrorbright, take this  
time to remember.’

“Ben Solo,” Rey whispered in wonder. “I didn’t know you could sing!” It was true; he had a lovely voice.

He’d sung in choirs as a boy, he explained, and this was a traditional Alderaanian lullaby—his mother’s favourite. She’d even named her ship after it. Was there more? Rey wanted to hear it.

She felt him sigh at a sudden surge of emotion, and he buried his nose in the softness of her hair for a moment before continuing:

‘Those you have lost but are gone,  
Those who kept you so safe and warm.  
The mirrorbright moon lets you see  
Those who have ceased to be...’

“Oh Ben,” Rey whispered as his beautiful baritone cracked with emotion.

“I killed them, Rey. Those who kept me safe and warm. They are dead because of me. Nothing can ever change that.”

For a long while he just held her there, tucked under his chin as they looked out at the silvery full moon, its reflection so perfect in the stillness of the lake.

‘Mirrorbright shines the moon, as fires die to  
their embers,  
Those you love are with you still—  
The moon will help you remember.’

As he finished, she realized he was silently weeping. She pulled his head into her shoulder. She said nothing; she simply held him for a very long time, waiting for the wave of sorrow and melancholy to pass.

“That’s a terribly bittersweet song, for a lullaby.” She finally broke the long silence.

“It’s only fitting, considering Alderaan’s fate. My mother always thought it so strange, that a song about a moon could be so dear to a planet that never had one. She wondered what the children of Alderaan thought the night the Death Star appeared overhead. She thought it must have looked like a moon to them.”

 

“Ben, how do we know what would have come to pass if things had gone differently on Starkiller? Would we even be alive? We will never know. But I know this much—those you love are with you still. They’re right here—“

She placed her hand over his heart. 

“And have you forgotten? There is no death, there is only the Force.”

 

+++

 

Rey of Jakku and Ben Solo were married shortly after sunrise the following morning.

Although it was small, theirs was no secret wedding. Each of those in attendance truly wished them every happiness. Chewie, the droids, Finn and Rose, Admiral Peavey and the Queen all stood with the young couple as they said their vows on the garland-festooned terrace. Maz Kanata had somehow accompanied Chewie.

“My boyfriend needed a date,” she’d chuckled by way of explanation. She was most welcome, and she’d handed Ben and Rey a plain wooden box shortly after the ceremony, suggesting they open it only after everyone else had departed.

Luke and Anakin Skywalker had seen fit to come and bear witness, Anakin smiling with approval at the sight of the glowing kyber pendants the bridal couple had decided to wear. The crystals were now on chains of the finest Chalcedony.

When the Force ghosts had finally allowed themselves to be seen by everyone, not just by the bridal pair, there had been a certain amount of shock from everyone save Chewie and the Queen. 

I am actually speaking with LUKE SKYWALKER! Rose could scarcely believe it, and gripped Finn’s hand tightly until the Jedi Master moved on to converse with someone else.

Anakin made sure to seek out the completely shocked Admiral Peavey, and spent a great deal of time explaining his version of Imperial history to the flabbergasted man. Certain historical details needed quite a bit of clarification. Luckily, the Admiral was a keen student of history and he listened to the man who had become Darth Vader with rapt attention.

The Queen found herself wondering if a Force ghost’s presence could be detected electronically, given that the droids seemed aware of their presence. She decided it was worth investigating and wondered if either of them would agree to being recorded...

For Ben and Rey had agreed that a few images and a brief recording of the proceedings could indeed be released over the HoloNet; Queen Cassiana had persevered and had convinced them of that much.

And so they’d made their vows on the terrace overlooking the sparkling lake, a truly fairytale setting. Not that the bride knew any fairytales. Though she very much belonged in this story.

The groom wore the same elegant black Alderaanian finery he had to Canto Bight, and the bride the absolutely ethereal white gown she’d worn on the same occasion.

They both wore long cloaks, his of a sumptuous black and hers of white. Rey’s was spangled with thousands of tiny embroidered stars, courtesy of the team of seamstresses who’d sewn the night away under the Queen’s orders. (They’d giggled and whispered away at the drama and romance of it all, this wedding of the pair who could so easily have been the emperor and empress of them all.

If they’d ever wished to rule the galaxy. Which they clearly had no interest in, even if billions considered them worthy of it. And was it true that the two of them meant to run off together? Yes, it was all terribly romantic and mysterious!)

 

On Rey’s brow was the delicate circlet of Chalcedony that Ben had crafted for her in the moonlight the night before.

The ceremony was brief.

The festivities were joyful. 

And before long, everyone but the bridal couple had departed Varykino.

Which meant that Ben could finally explain to Rey the significance of all of the braids that had been so purposefully twisted into her hair by two pairs of well-meaning hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ‘Mirrorbright’ lullaby and the references to it are from Claudia Gray’s novel ‘Bloodline.’


	23. Nexus

Ben and Rey Solo faced each other on the great rock at the pinnacle of the mighty Force nexus marked by the Jedi temple on Ahch-to. The gigantic stone they were seated upon was still rent by the enormous fissure Rey’s last visit to it had created. If the Force willed it, the bondmates meant to unify the kyber crystal they’d cleaved in half in Snoke’s smouldering throne room. 

The brilliant blue fragments that had once been the heart of the Skywalker lightsaber lay in Rey’s cupped hands, Ben’s larger ones warmly clasped around hers. They closed their eyes, joined their minds and reached out to the Force together.

At first they felt warmth, light, and a deep darkness swirl between them and all around them as their minds linked fully. They concentrated on channeling all of it into the halved kyber crystal they cradled in their joined hands, the one they’d split on the Supremacy and that they now hoped to heal so that Rey could construct her lightsaber.

The ground around them trembled and the saber at Ben’s hip began to hum as steadily as the crystal fragments they held between them, its bleeding heart responding to the incredibly powerful Force currents pulsing around the bonded pair at the mighty nexus. The very air around them seemed to vibrate with pain, then peace. Turmoil, then calm.

When the Force currents subsided they realized the massive fissure in the rock beneath them had vanished.

They held their breathe as they opened their hands to look at the Skywalker kyber.

Had they reunited the broken crystal as well? No, the Force had intended something else entirely. For the kyber crystal now lay warm and perfectly colourless, still in two equal parts.

 

“Incredible,” Ben breathed. He’d once read of a crystal being transformed in somewhat similar fashion. Ahsoka Tano, Luke Skywalker’s onetime mentor, had apparently purified a blood red Sith crystal. The result had been a perfectly clear white kyber, reputedly more powerful than any other before it.

While it still lay in two equal pieces, this crystal appeared to have been transformed in a similar manner. It had not needed ‘purification’, but it pulsed with a deeper, more profound energy than Ben or Rey had sensed from it before.

“Rey.” Ben’s eyes met hers. “You know what this means.”

 

 

 

+

 

Rey saw Ben’s approval shining in his dark eyes as he quietly watched her complete her lightsaber. Or rather, her saberstaff.

The newly powerful crystals from the Skywalker saber were more than sufficient to power a dual bladed weapon—one that would be better suited to her natural fighting style than any single blade could ever be. She had utilized the undamaged centre section of her trusty original, ruined quarterstaff to house the components of her new weapon. Those components had come from the wooden box the sagely smiling Maz Kanata had presented to them on their wedding day. Rey and Ben had been cross-legged during the saberstaff’s creation, facing each other just as as they now always did when they meditated. Ben had patiently guided her through the lengthy, painstaking process, their minds perfectly melded during its construction. Her natural inclination toward all things mechanical had made it a great deal easier than it would otherwise have been.

Ben realized it had been an entirely different experience than of his own lightsaber’s torturous construction. He could hardly wait to see her face when she wielded it for the first time. There, beside the reflecting pool with its mosaic depiction of the Prime Jedi, Rey ignited her twin blades.

As the saberstaff hissed to life, both of them took in the beauty of its pure light glowing so brightly against the dim interior of the temple.

“Care to spar?” Ben’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he grinned at his wife—she smirked as she got the reference—who was already twirling her new weapon expertly while she waited for him to draw his own blade and engage.

 

They felt each other’s mutual shock as Ben Solo drew his cross-guarded saber to ignite his crackling blade. Gone was its angrily sputtering crimson. In its place was a steadily humming blade of the darkest gray.

 

+

 

+


	24. Mirror Cave

It was so dark as to be nearly black. Rey’s eyes were shining as they met Ben’s. It felt perfect.

Her saberstaff of pure light, and now his blade, one so very dark. A darksaber. Surely there could be no other name for it.

It didn’t glow, exactly, even though a kyber lay at its heart. Ben knew that the crack in the crystal had to be gone—that fissure rendering it as volatile and dangerous as he himself had been for so long. He’d spent the better part of a decade living consumed by rage and hate, a lost child in a mask who’d named himself Kylo Ren.

Ben vaguely recalled references to a legendary darksaber of old—had it been to do with the Mandalorians? Something to investigate further when the opportunity presented itself.

The seated figure of the Prime Jedi seemed to regard them, silent in its reflecting pool. The Force had just spoken. Long ago, before the Jedi or the Sith, there had been only the Force. No dark side, nor one of light—simply one path that allowed for passion and peace, conflict and calm. It did not deal in absolutes, and Rey and Ben had found it. They had found that precious balance. 

They were balanced, together.

Guardians of life.  
Champions of balance.

The two of them embodied all that Ben, ever the scholar, had found scrawled on that scrap of vellum secreted away in the spine of one of the ancient texts Rey had stolen away with her when she’d fled this very island.

Rey, so untutored, her instincts guiding them both so unerringly. He himself with vast knowledge attained through years of training in the dark and in the light, which had led him to discoveries no other in this age had made. They complemented each other so well, had taught each other so much, had shown each other the way. They had both light and darkness within them and had learned to keep them in harmony—neither one to be rejected.

They were a perfect balance, and they had each helped the other find the crucial balance within themselves that was the key to all else. After their crash onto that nameless moon, it also seemed the Force had seen fit to grant the pair of them what felt like power beyond measure.

 

 

They began circling around the pool, both of them tingling at the prospect of sparring for the first time simply for the joy of it. No enemies threatened. The Force was whispering to them to test their blades, and they did.

They gasped as their contrasting light and dark blades were drawn together by an incredibly powerful force, almost magnetic in nature. They repeated the experiment: they began to spar, and each time they did so their blades were once again drawn together.

It was almost as if their weapons could never be used against each other. Just as Rey and Ben could never hurt each other.

 

All at once they were being pulled together into the mirror cave deep beneath the island that had once called to Rey, and that Ben had sensed so strongly the moment he’d set foot on the island. It called to both of them now.

They were before the mirror.

They dropped their weapons and approached its dark mystery hand in hand. As one, they reached out toward it, each with their free hand.

 

They touched the mirror’s surface, waiting to be shown that which they’d been summoned for.

Reflected back at each of them was the face and figure of the other reaching out to press their palms to those of their living counterparts. 

At the point of contact, Ben and Rey were thrown back, and the glossy mirror shattered into countless shards of crystal. Visions of unimaginable horror flashed before them both as the Force whispered:

Je’daii.

There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.  
There is no fear; there is power.  
I am the heart of the Force.  
I am the revealing fire of light,  
I am the mystery of darkness,  
In balance with chaos and harmony,  
Immortal in the Force.

 

Je’daii.

They were to seek Je’daii.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Je’daii Code and lightsaber/darksaber references shamelessly pilfered from Wookiepedia.


	25. Coreward

“Ready?”

Ben nodded to Rey from where he’d been sitting at the Falcon’s hologram board watching their dark and light kyber crystals skitter toward each other every time he set them down on its polished surface.

He’d taken his saber apart several times in order to work on it. When they’d removed the twin crystals from Rey’s saberstaff at the same time, they’d discovered that their crystals actually sought each other.

Which was interesting. Even mildly amusing, especially to the Porgs that had been on board at the time.

Chewie and the Porgs were gone now.

 

Chewbacca had insisted that Ben and Rey take command of the Millennium Falcon. According to him they were her rightful owners, and there was never much point in arguing with a Wookie. Chewie had happily accepted their offer of the New Order command shuttle they had flown to Ahch-To as his new mode of transportation and had flown to Kashyyyk to visit with his family after seeing his Porg passengers safely home.

Chewie considered Porgs to be sentient creatures, and these particular Porgs had seen enough of the galaxy for their liking. Quite frankly, Rey felt she’d seen enough of them as well! Ben hadn’t experienced living in close proximity to the inquisitive avians but she certainly had. She considered it a minor miracle that Chewie had tolerated their penchant for ripping into the Falcon at every opportunity. To think she’d originally suspected he’d only allowed them aboard because he’d meant to make a meal of them later!

Finishing a lightsaber’s outer casing held none of the inherent danger that the complex process of building its inner workings involved, so Ben had used some of their travel time as an opportunity to finally complete his saber. Finishing his cross-guarded weapon was something he’d never once sought to do as Kylo Ren. Rey’s theory was that he had never been committed enough to the darkness and to all that it represented to take that step.

He’d decided she was probably correct. 

The newfound stability of his drastically altered kyber crystal meant that its cross-guard vents were now redundant. Ben had elected to retain them as a permanent reminder of the imbalance and volatility they’d represented in the first place, a state he had no intention of ever returning to.

His amazingly technically proficient wife had used traditional tools to build her saberstaff, but Ben had used his new ability to create with his mind in order to complete his lightsaber housing. He had utilized some of the remaining material from Rey’s original staff in order to do so. Now, part of the weapon she’d carried for years encased the inner workings of his saber with an elegance and simplicity he found quite pleasing. He had never seen its like, and it was utterly unrecognizable as a weapon ever wielded by Kylo Ren.

Had he stopped to consider the matter, Ben would have realized that his innate love of truth, beauty and the arts marked him as a true child of Alderaan. Prince of Alderaan may very well have been a meaningless title, but the ideals that Alderaanian culture had so long upheld had been thoroughly ingrained in him as a result of his early education. He was indeed Leia Organa’s son in that respect. That truth was reflected in the refined elegance of the lightsaber hilt he now held out for examination to his smiling wife.

It was truly beautiful. Rey knew that Ben admired her skill with all manner of machinery but she herself marvelled at how he had conceived of such a design and had then proceeded to make it a reality. It was a gift, she decided. His finished saber hilt was gorgeous—nearly as gorgeous as her new husband’s eyes...

A thought he of course caught, smiling and shaking his head at her fondly.

Brushing Rey’s knuckles with a kiss, Ben set his saber back on the table and followed her to the Falcon’s cockpit.

 

Rey plunked herself down into the copilot’s chair just as she had the very first time they’d boarded the Falcon together as its keepers . She’d insisted that her technical expertise and intimate knowledge of the ship’s many quirks made her better suited to occupy the copilot’s chair than he would ever be. She acknowledged that her own skills as a pilot were regarded as exceptional , but she’d gone on to remind him that he’d been piloting since before she’d been born.

Which left him with the only other option: that of sitting in his father’s chair.

The one place in the galaxy he felt he had less right to that anywhere else.

The one place Rey insisted his parents would be just as glad he did sit in.

So, getting his emotions in check, Ben Solo sat down in Han Solo’s seat and prepared to take the Falcon into the Deep Core.

 

“I beg your pardon?” C-3PO had exclaimed upon learning of their plans. Rey and Ben had allowed the Force to guide them from Ahch-To all the way into the treacherous, mysterious heart of the galaxy itself.

Originally they’d assumed the Force would lead them to the small desert moon of Jedha in the mid Rim. It was known for its spiritual significance to a thousand faiths, at least according to legend. It had also been mined by the Empire for its rich kyber deposits. Jedha’s famed Holy City had been obliterated in the test of the first Death Star’s superlasers as punishment for supporting an insurgency against the Empire. Jedha had seemed a logical destination to seek ‘Je’daii’, whatever the Force meant by that. It supposedly contained any number of mysteries. But as they’d flown farther from Ahch-To, it had become apparent that the Force was guiding them somewhere else entirely. It was calling them instead to the Galactic Core.

“Madness! Master Ben, might I remind you that—“

“Thank you, Threepio! I am well aware of the odds! As Artoo can tell you, Uncle Luke always called this an awfully crowded place where things move pretty fast. So I suggest you keep quiet and let me concentrate!”

Threepio silenced himself immediately. Crowded, indeed! They were navigating a sector so densely packed with stars and planets that only the truly foolhardy even contemplated venturing into it. Never mind actually threading a pathway through it! Stars had actually ripped each other’s cores out in this perilous region at the heart of the galaxy, surely Master Ben knew that! And a massive black hole lay at its very centre, a darkness powerful enough to bind the entire galaxy together. The Deep Core was best avoided entirely! 

And here they were flying directly into it?

 

Ben felt Rey’s faith in his piloting abilities brush comfortingly against his mind as his steady hands guided them into the death trap otherwise known as the Galactic Core.

 

 

They made planetfall and landed on a relatively flat area in a mountainous region. The Force whispered to them that the name of the planet it had called them to was Tython. Neither of them had heard of it, which was no surprise given that not much was known of the Deep Core. Ben had read classified Imperial documents alluding to hyperspace lanes Palpatine had known of, but the information in the archives was skimpy. None of it had made any reference to the planet they now stood upon. Neither of them asked the droids for their input; they rushed from the ship as soon as the landing cycle was complete.

Force currents surged through Tython like nowhere else Rey or Ben had ever encountered—even those on Ahch-To paled in comparison. They’d insisted that the droids stay on board the ship for safety since the entire planet felt like it might break apart beneath them at any moment.

Rey decided to stay with the Falcon while Ben went immediately to investigate in the direction he felt himself being called.

Neither felt any genuine concern; they felt at one with the Force as never before and were certain it had led them here for a reason. They did not feel the fear that most other beings would have experienced given the circumstances. Tython was wildly dangerous for anyone without the Force.

 

No sooner had Ben disappeared from view than Rey sensed several hostile life forms approaching the Falcon. The ship was surrounded, and the beings descending upon it had powerful Force signatures.

Rey could sense their intentions: their target was the Falcon. They saw it as a means of escape, and they clearly wished to leave this strange planet at once.

When they stepped into view, Rey acted. Before any of them even had a chance to reach for their weapons, she channelled the Force to seize them and pull them into a tight bunch, keeping them immobilized and hovering a few metres from the ground in front of her.

 

Ben’s long strides took him well into a narrow mountain valley before he felt compelled to stop.

He sensed a presence—a powerful presence, one that was assessing him as he stood quietly in the middle of the valley.

He and Rey had followed the Force’s guidance to this place, and he meant to learn why.

 

Before long his eyes were drawn upward until they came to rest on what initially appeared to be a pile of boulders. A Force presence the likes of which he’d never sensed before pulsed from it.

He addressed it respectfully, not wasting his words:

“We have come in search of Je’daii.”

He was careful to pronounce the term slightly differently than one did ‘Jedi’; the Force had made the distinction and so would Ben Solo.

 

“Ha! Found it, you have.” The boulders rumbled. “And so has she. But will you keep it always? For nothing is certain, nothing is static.”

Ben furrowed his brow in consideration. Jedi. Je’daii. And here they were on Tython, as the Force had directed them. What were they to accomplish here? Before he could formulate a response the boulders rumbled again:

“Who are you?” The massive, ungainly enigma inquired.

“I am Ben Solo.”

“And what does that mean, Ben Solo?”

“I...seek balance. I seek to protect the galaxy from the threat that looms over it, although the nature of that threat is unclear.”

“Ah, so you seek balance, Jedi. Je’daii.”

“Jedi? I am not a Jedi any more than I am Sith. It may be that I am something in the gray between the two.”

“Ha! Do you name yourself Gray Jedi? You are something grayer than that, surely. Je’daii.”

 

This being continued to make the distinction between Jedi and Je’daii; Ben wished to learn what that meant.

 

“Know you nothing of the history of this place? Of the planet the Force has guided you to seek? Of Ashla and Bogan above us now, as we speak?” The massive being gestured toward the heavens.

In that same moment, Ben felt Rey’s urgent communication to him through their bond.

“Our ship is being threatened”, he told the enormous brownish-gray being, wondering how next to proceed.

 

“Ah, your bondmate has already met the unenlightened ones, so desperate for a means to escape their imprisonment.”

 

Imprisonment? Ben sensed no malice from this veritable mountain of a creature, although it had just alluded to prisoners of some sort. Ones Rey had apparently just encountered.

Thoughts flashed between Rey and Ben, and in the next instant Rey resolved to come to him.

 

The massive creature chuckled heartily at the sight of Rey and her prisoners as the Force snapped them into place next to Ben Solo.

“Ha! It seems she’s not letting you go anywhere, either!” He laughed, sending rivulets of fine gravel down so that it dusted Ben’s black boots.

Rey caught Ben’s surprise as his eyes widened in recognition at the sight of her captives.

For the six figures she’d pinned like flies to a nearby rock face were none other than the Knights of Ren.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All Force related references sourced from Wookiepedia and smooshed around for my own purposes.


	26. Bendu

The massive, boulder-like being Rey and Ben stood before made a dismissive gesture with an enormous forelimb, sending the six Knights crumpling to the ground.

“They are unharmed; they have yet to learn. Their imbalance led to the destruction of their own vessel.

They have no place in our discussion at present. I will awaken them later and ensure they do not trouble you until you are of a mind to speak with them.”

 

Ben walked slowly to where the six figures lay in the dust. Rey could sense his conflicting emotions as he contemplated their still forms.

Knowing he’d essentially killed two of his Knights a mere few weeks earlier had not been easy for Ben. He had acted to save Rey by passing her his saber on that occasion, giving her the means to end them when they’d clearly meant to destroy her. In that instant, saving Rey had been all that mattered. He would do it all again in a heartbeat if the choice were between her life and theirs.

He had wished it hadn’t been. And here were the remaining Knights of Ren.

Turning from the dark figures sprawled haphazardly before him, Ben joined Rey where she stood regarding the unnamed enigma who potentially held the answers they’d travelled to the heart of the galaxy in search of.

 

It courteously invited them to be seated, as its tale would be lengthy. Sensing no threat, they thanked it for the invitation and did so. Cross-legged, each of them rested a hand lightly on the other’s thigh as they awaited the enormous being’s next words.

 

“You have reached Tython. You have also reached Je’daii,” it rumbled.

“Je’daii. The Mystic Centre, in the language of the Dai Bendu monks. You are centred in the Force.

You must ask yourselves, now. Will you retain it? Will you continue to follow the path of the Bendu?”

 

Bendu. Rey recalled the term from their shared Force dreams of the past few cycles.

“We dreamt of strange pyramid ships,” Rey offered.

“Nine of them?” The being inquired, obviously rhetorically.

“Nine in all, eight moving from planets scattered throughout the galaxy toward a ninth, larger one.” Ben replied.

 

“Ah, the Tho Yor.” The boulder being nodded his massive head. “You dreamt of the Tho Yor, eight great pyramid ships that once called out to so many, from worlds such as Ando Prime, Kashyyyk, Tatooine, Dathomir...these eight Tho Yor gathered Force sensitive beings and brought them here, to Tython, where they met the ninth ship, the largest of them all. When they reached Tython, some of the Tho Yor buried themselves, others descended into the seas, and still others came to rest upon mountainsides. The beings they carried here were instructed in the ways of the Force, of the importance of harmony and balance.

For ten thousand years, balance, or Bendu, was maintained. Those who strayed too far into light or darkness were sent to meditate on one of Tython’s moons. Do you see them? 

Ashla and Bogan. One bathed in light, the other in perpetual darkness. Ashla, the light moon, was for those who needed to balance themselves by contemplating the darkness of Bogan. Bogan was the destination for those requiring the opportunity to meditate upon Ashla’s light.

These six”—-he gestured toward the unconscious Knights—“would do well to spend time upon Bogan. From there they may rediscover Ashla’s light and perhaps find the balance they presently lack.”

 

“How is it that this knowledge has been lost to us?” Ben wondered aloud. He had spent most of his life studying the Force and all that his masters had known of its history.

 

“Lost? You hear of it now, do you not? These are ancient tales, from an age shrouded in mystery, from long before the Sith and the Jedi.

 

The history of Tython is rich and mysterious, but I will tell you now of the loss of Bendu and the rise of the ancient Jedi and their counterparts, the Sith. For both began here, on Tython, with the fracture of the Je’daii Order.

 

Ten thousand years after the establishment of the Je’daii, a humanoid known as a Force Hound was sent to Tython by the Infinite Empire. This Hound intentionally created the first schism between dark and light philosophies, resulting in the loss of Bendu, the end of the Je’daii Order.

Simply put, the great conflict caused by this minion of the Infinite Empire gave rise to the opposing factions of Jedi and Sith. The Jedi eventually emerged victorious and went on to support the Galactic Republic. The Mystic Centre of the Force in the galaxy—Je’daii— was no more. Instability followed.

The Force always seeks balance.

You know very well of Darth Sidious and his Master, Darth Plagueis.”

Ben nodded in confirmation, promising Rey he would elaborate further as necessary.

“You are likely unaware that they took it upon themselves to manipulate midichlorions in an attempt to create life itself. They went too far, and this the Force could not allow. Just less than ten years after that ill-advised attempt, your grandfather Anakin Skywalker—a nine-year-old with unparalleled power—was brought before the Jedi Council.

The Force itself created Anakin Skywalker; your grandfather was Chosen to return balance to the Force once more. The imbalance that had existed for thousands of years had now become too great. However, he fell too far into darkness. His actions gave way to the rise of the Empire, because the Jedi and the Old Republic had atrophied. The pendulum had swung too far to the light; stasis requires a certain amount of chaos to balance it. And so the galaxy then suffered under its opposite, which was darkness.

The Rebel Alliance was born in response to the great darkness that was the Empire.”

“And the Rebel Alliance gave birth to the New Republic, which itself quickly atrophied and led to the rise of the First Order!” Ben interjected, understanding at once. “And all this time the galaxy has been torn between the extremes of light and dark influences! Which has led to widespread pain and suffering.”

“Yes!” The creature thundered in agreement. “You, especially, have felt it most keenly—you, who bridge the light and the darkness and always have. There is not meant to be a rift between them! The schism must be healed! 

Your mother and your uncle helped bring balance for a short time, but ultimately failed because they did not resolve the gray between the two extremes. Both sensed that something was amiss. Your mother saw the flaws in the New Republic’s system of government just as clearly as your Uncle came to realize that the Jedi had to end. But neither was able to ultimately bring the balance the Force seeks.

You, Ben Solo, were Chosen by the Force to heal that rift and bring balance to the galaxy once more. 

But then another hand began to guide you and pull you too far beneath its influence. Tell me—how old were you when you were sent away to study with your uncle? For that is when Snoke began to truly exert influence on you, was it not?”

”I was nine,” Ben whispered. He remembered himself as that frightened, confused boy, so angry at his family and his circumstances. So misunderstood. Except by Snoke, who had played upon his vulnerabilities. How did this great being know so much of Snoke? So much of everything?

The creature, this advocate of Bendu, looked appraisingly at Rey before turning his attention back to Ben and asking him his age. Which he surely knew the answer to before Ben gave it.

I am twenty-nine”, Ben replied, as he put his arm around Rey, unsure of where this discussion was leading. It didn’t help that the enigma before them appeared to be smiling and slowly nodding.

The boulder-like being did indeed smile as he looked at Rey next.

“Which would make you nearly twenty.”

Rey furrowed her brow. She and Ben both knew that her date of birth was uncertain. She didn’t know her exact age any more than she knew the names of her parents.

“Ah, you are uncertain,” the boulderlike being amiably continued his explanation. “Be that as it may. I can assure you, Rey Solo, that you were born nine months and nine years to the day Snoke established a firm grip on your bondmate’s mind. You were meant to balance Snoke’s influence on Ben Solo. You are a fulcrum, if you will. The catalyst literally born to lead the last Skywalker to Je’daii. To the path of the Bendu. And together, you have begun to balance the galaxy as you have begun to learn to balance the Force.” 

Ben’s mind was racing, and he could sense Rey’s doing the same. He and Rey felt a profound certainty they’d been destined for each other. Was this advocate of Bendu implying Rey’s very existence had been brought about by Snoke’s influence on him?

The large being sighed.

“This is enough for you to ponder. I will rest now. Tomorrow you will discover why the Force sent you to this place. Come to me again tomorrow, both of you.

Je’daii.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All Force related references from Wookiepedia, some of them verbatim!;)


	27. Chapter 27

Poe Dameron downed the last dregs of the cheap blue liquor he’d resorted to drinking. The seedy cantina he’d sought refuge in was packed tonight with all manner of species, most of them even worse for wear than he himself.

Him.

A pariah.

 

No hero. An outcast, like so many of the beings on this forlorn, half-forgotten former mining planet at the edge of the galaxy. 

He’d been here for nearly two weeks, ever since he’d fled Naboo’s majestic Royal Palace in absolute disgrace.

Because the galaxy no longer dealt in familiar absolutes, he reflected. He’d been so wrong. He’d done such wrong. He’d been wrong about the bomber attack, wrong to keep the foolhardy Canto Bight scheme from Holdo, entirely wrong about Holdo herself...and totally wrong about Ben Solo as well.

He’d said as much to Kaydel, when she’d caught his arm as he’d practically run down the grand marble staircase in his distraught flight from the audience chamber.

He could still see Kaydel’s face. Always so earnest, so open. With so much faith in him, no matter the circumstances.

“You didn’t see!” She’d exclaimed, her face uncharacteristically tear-stained. “Poe Dameron, there’s so much you still don’t see!”

And then she’d burst into tears. He’d been shocked. The unflappable, perpetually reliable Kaydel Connix had been crying her eyes out. And then he’d turned and stumbled the rest of the way down the staircase, so desperate to escape his humiliation that he didn’t register what she’d called to him afterward.

He hadn’t even noticed BB-8’s frantic exclamation for him to wait.

 

He’d been too intent on running.

He’d made it to the spaceport in Theed and had sought immediate passage on the first ship that he could find, lucky enough to hire on as a last-minute extra hand.

Which had brought him here. 

 

The tales he was hearing tonight—the whole place was buzzing with them. Could even a scrap of them be true? What city, totally abandoned? Ships floating in space, crewless, cargo intact? An entire planet suddenly incommunicado? What else was in the stuff he’d just downed, anyway? Spacers were often prone to a certain amount of exaggeration, but this seemed outlandish.

It must be the alcohol talking. He must be mishearing the snippets of the conversation that floated around him. He hadn’t been much of a drinker in years, after all. Not since Leia had taken him under her wing.

Leia. He remembered what an ass he’d been to Rey at Leia’s funeral, too. The last time he’d had far too much to drink. Rey had been so unfazed by what he’d done, so willing to let it go. But his next error in judgment had seen him at the end of her lightsaber...he still remembered the coldness of her expression, the way her eyes had blazed with that icy fury in Naboo’s grand audience hall.

Part of him wished Ben Solo hadn’t stopped her.

What would he do now?

He had no plan, and barely any credits. The beard he’d grown didn’t do much to conceal his distinctive features either.

He really didn’t care. Not anymore.

He’d spent the past two weeks or so steadily drinking himself into oblivion.

 

It hadn’t helped.

 

He was caught off guard when a gloved hand seized the back of his neck in an iron grip and he felt a weapon pressed to his side.

“Poe Dameron”. His name grated through a mask’s voice modulator. A bounty hunter, he thought to himself. No less than he deserved. Someone had thought to put a bounty on his miserable head. Fitting.

He did not resist as the bounty hunter hauled him out of the cantina and into the darkness of an alcove a short distance away from its back door.

 

Then the bounty hunter, not much taller than he was, pulled off the mask to reveal a face Poe Dameron had never thought to see again.

 

It was Rey.

 

Poe’s stomach churned as guilt and shame rose in his gullet.

“Rey”, he choked, overcome with emotion. He couldn’t fathom how or why she was here, of all places in the galaxy. Or how she was regarding him so calmly, so serenely. So much like the woman he’d worshipped. 

He’d never known the real Rey well enough to truly love her; he knew that now. Kaydel had been right—he’d loved the idea of Rey more than the reality of her, one he barely knew. Amazing as she was. His had been a powerful infatuation.

Yet here she was, shaking his shoulder now so that he would focus on her and not remain lost in his thoughts.

He looked into her clear hazel eyes.

 

“I’m so sorry, Rey. I was dead wrong. About all of it. Everything.”

 

“I’m sorry, too.” Poe could scarcely believe Rey’s words. “I lost myself to anger, to fear. To the darkness, Poe. It blinded me. As it did you.”

 

Poe closed his eyes, grimacing as he shook his head before resting it against the cold dampness of the alcove wall behind him.

 

“How could I have done that to you, Rey? To Leia? He did it. He did end the war. He did put the pieces into place to at least ensure the chance of a lasting peace. And he did walk away from ruling the galaxy, just as he said he would. Hell, he even blew up the second Starkiller—“

Poe gave a sharp intake of breath as a dark figure joined them in the alcove. It loomed over them both, silhouetted against the starlight. 

 

“All three of us made that shot, Dameron. Rey, the Sullustan and I. We did it together. It is irrelevant which of us fired the shot that began enough of a chain reaction to lead to its destruction. Utterly immaterial.” Ben hissed.

 

Poe closed his eyes, feeling like his legs were about to crumple underneath him. Not him, too, he thought to himself. Oh Kriff, what would Leia have said to him? How would she feel if she’d lived to see him try to kill her only child?

“She’d still regard you as a better son to her than I was for the past ten years,” Ben rasped, reluctant to admit as much but not about to deny the truth.

He could see Dameron was severely shocked and well on his way to being completely intoxicated. Most of the man’s thoughts would have been easy enough for anyone to read, let alone him.

There was no time to waste.

 

Supporting Poe’s staggering weight between them, Ben and Rey all but dragged Poe Dameron all the way to the docking bay where the Falcon awaited.

They hauled him up the ramp and shoved him into the pilot’s seat before he could utter the faintest protest.

 

Yes, Dameron was drunk. But he was their only option, and he could probably outfly most beings in the galaxy even in his sorry state.

The entire sector had just lost all means of communication with the rest of the galaxy, and much worse was about to follow. The information they had gathered needed to make its way to the Galactic Alliance for it to stand even a chance of being prepared for the onslaught that was nearly upon them.

 

Rey programmed a series of coordinates into the computer. All Dameron needed to do was get the Falcon safely away from the planet and into hyperspace.

Threepio and Artoo would fill him in once he was in a state to process the information; Artoo had also recorded a message from Ben and Rey to Queen Cassiana and the Galactic Alliance.

 

“Dameron!” Ben slapped Poe’s cheek just hard enough to keep the man’s eyes from glazing over. He truly was three sheets to the wind.

 

“Best pilot in the Resistance! Remember? 

Time to prove it, flyboy.

The galaxy needs a hero.

This time, that’s you.”

Ben stabbed a long finger into Dameron’s chest to emphasize the point.

“The fate of the galaxy as we know it may rest on your getting to Naboo, to Cassiana and Peavey and Wexley.”

Poe gave his head another shake; had he just heard correctly?

”May the Force be with you, Poe,” Rey said as she gazed levelly into his eyes and gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. She left the cockpit, saying hurried goodbyes to Artoo and Threepio as she exited.

Ben leaned down to look Poe Dameron in the eye. 

“At my mother’s funeral, when you gave that speech, I envied you. I envied all that you had, and all that you were to my mother. You inspired billions that day. The galaxy needs that now, and more. First, get the information we have given the droids to where it needs to go. Walk into that palace with your head held high, Dameron. Because it’s time for you to step up and do what my mother always meant you to. 

It doesn’t matter who wants that same head. You have to lead, Poe. Along with the Queen, with Peavey, with Wexley and the rest. Tell the Queen that her cousin wishes for you to make a speech over the holonet on his behalf. Tell her that exactly. And then bloody well make it the speech of your life. You’ll figure out what to say. Because what is to come is much, much worse than we could ever have imagined, and everyone needs a spark of hope in the face of it. 

Have you made mistakes? Yes. So have I. Learn from them, for failure truly is our greatest teacher. So go back. Do as we’ve asked. And with any luck, you’ll even be able to go out and blow something up before this is over.”

Ben glanced out the cockpit’s viewport, gesturing toward the strange greenish glow in the distance.

“Go now! And stay as far away from that as you can. May the Force be with you.” 

What about them, Poe wondered. What were the two of them intending, and how would they do any of it without the Falcon? 

”We won’t be needing it anymore.”

With that, Ben Solo turned and left Poe Dameron to his unexpected mission.


	28. The Enemy

The Queen of Naboo, head of the New Galactic Alliance, paced the length of her moonlit balcony in a futile attempt to calm herself. She exhaled sharply, her hands gripping the stone balustrade until her knuckles whitened as she mentally reviewed recent events. She knew she needed to project an aura of calm confidence before those she led, but here in the shadows she could admit to herself that she was terrified.

The contents of the message Artoo had played for her a few days ago still made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

Not the official message recorded for the benefit of the New Galactic Alliance. In that message the former Supreme Leader and Rey of Jakku had calmly outlined the steps the galaxy should take in order to best counter the threat the pair of them had discovered, that of the nameless enemy that had already begun ravaging the edge of the Outer Rim.

No, the message that had so thoroughly unsettled her had been the one they’d intended for her alone, the details of which they had left to her to disclose to others as she saw fit.

Details of horrors beyond the imagination: entire worlds, cities or just ships completely stripped bare of all life—including the tiniest microbes. 

Reports of what to be on guard for—a sudden disruption in the communications grid. Then a strange greenish glow—the glow apparently caused by numerous odd looking ships that ‘harvested’ all organic life when that odd glow was visible. 

No life forms had been spotted, but according to Rey and Ben the inhabitants of these bizarre, rocklike ships were some combination of organic matter and an unspecified technology, one unknown to this galaxy. She had no idea how they’d arrived at that conclusion. The theory was that organic life was being collected to somehow fuel these strange ships and their weaponry. 

The ships were apparently vulnerable to traditional weapons but were to be avoided at all costs if the green glow was present; to ignore that meant certain disaster in the form of ‘collection’. She shuddered. Such a clinical term for such a ghastly concept, she thought to herself. The prospect was chilling.

 

She could scarcely believe that a number of Force ghosts were about to enter the realm of the living for the sole purpose of defending it. This could apparently become very arduous, even torturous, for the spirits involved but these were determined to make that sacrifice if it meant preserving life. (And had Ben said something about defending the Force itself in the process? That had gotten all tangled up in her mind along with his talk of a battle plan involving dark matter, dark energy, time and space. It had not been imperative that she understood that plan, as it did not involve the New Alliance. Which was just as well, because it had been enough to make her head spin.)

These ghosts intended to make themselves visible to everyone, not just to those with Force sensitivities: Obi-wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn here with her in Theed, Anakin and Luke Skywalker aboard the Finalizer. Thank the Maker Admiral Peavey had seemed unfazed at the prospect. He had regarded it as a necessary precaution given the tendency of their unnamed enemy to disrupt communications before attacking. Force ghosts could communicate across space, so this strategy would ensure that the vital link between government and armed forces could not be severed by the enemy.

The thought of their enemy alone was enough to chill Avani to the bone, but knowing who else was about to join their fight against it made her queasy.

 

For it had been explained to her that Luke Skywalker had been able to travel in spirit form to what Ben Solo had referred to as the ‘netherworld’ of the Force. There, he had apparently enlisted the aid of three Sith Lords in what had essentially become a battle for life itself.

And so, the spirits of Sith Lords Sorzus Syn and Darth Bane would be joining the ghosts of the Jedi Masters here in Theed. 

They had supposedly demonstrated sufficient commitment to becoming ‘guardians of life’ (as Ben had put it) for the Force to grant them the ability to manifest themselves in the corporeal realm and actually influence it.

Sith. The enemy. An ancient enemy, or so history had always taught. And now, some of the strongest Sith in history were about to arrive in the Royal Palace?

To help protect her and the fledgling New Galactic Alliance?

 

That Luke Skywalker had resorted to seeking the aid of Sith Lords in this fight surely meant that their predicament was beyond bleak.

 

As for the third Sith—that did not even bear thinking about. The Jedi had assured her that this particular Sith would remain far, far away on the isolated planet of Jakku and that the legendary Master Yoda would remain with him at all times. 

She had been astounded to learn that the third Sith strong enough--and with pure enough intentions for the Force to allow him to enter the mortal world—had been none other than Sheev Palpatine, the dreaded former Emperor himself. It seemed impossible.

 

Avani Naberrie looked up at the bright Naboo moon. She prayed that what they were about to attempt would be enough and that they were not somehow courting even greater disaster.

For across the stars, the battle was about to begin.

 

++++++

 

“All set back there, buddy?” BB-8 responded with cheerful beeps before Poe Dameron issued a series of orders to the squadrons of TIEs and X-wings heading to the coordinates Ben and Rey had provided to Admiral Peavey just hours ago.

A week ago he'd been in exile at the edge of the galaxy, and now here he was about to lead the assault on a dreaded enemy.

Everything was comfortingly clear again, just the way he liked it.

It felt like home.

 

He’d done just as instructed; he’d flown that legendary freighter straight to Naboo, landing with what had later been described as great flair directly in front of the Royal Palace itself before striding in as if he’d owned the place. He’d barked orders at everyone, a man on a mission. Threepio and Artoo had flanked him as he’d made his way to the audience chamber where the government was in session.

Surprisingly enough no one made any effort to hinder him before he made it to the doors of the chamber itself.

Maybe it was the ship.

Maybe it was the droids.

Maybe it was the look in his eyes.

 

+++++

 

 

He was back.

 

He was safe.

 

He’d insisted on addressing the Queen and the council at once, indicating that he had been sent by both of the Last Jedi. Then he’d given the floor to the droids.

 

She could see it: Poe Dameron had a purpose again. 

 

The next day, polished up like a bright new penny, Poe had made an impassioned speech to the galaxy, even more stirring than the one he’d made the day of Leia’s funeral. And on behalf of the Last Jedi, of all things. If that didn’t speak to the need to unite in common cause, what did?

And then he had looked at her differently—just a little differently—when she’d reached to congratulate him afterward.

Despite the dangers facing them all, Commander Kaydel Connix of the New Galactic Alliance had never been happier.

 

++++++

 

 

The child peeked out from behind the packing crates he’d huddled behind to watch what the two figures racing toward the menace would do next.

He didn’t have the strength to run further—he’d hidden, just as so many of the others had when their legs had finally given out.

And now these two were running directly toward what everyone else was so desperate to get away from.

His natural curiosity got the better of him.

They were a man and a woman—he could tell that much from how they were silhouetted against that greenish glow in the distance.

All at once he saw them halt, ignite long blades of some sort—lightsabers?—and drive those blades straight into the earth in front of them. Jedi?

The child felt the ground lurch beneath his feet as something deep within the planet responded to that thrust.

Transfixed, he saw the strange pair pull their weapons out of the earth, point them in the direction of the greenish glow, and then send a wide beam of light crackling in its direction.

A few minutes later the green glow was no more. The boy could see the stars again.

 

+++++

 

Rey crumpled to the ground, overwhelmed and exhausted. Ben sank to his knees beside her, pulling Rey’s weary form close against his chest and burying his face in her hair.

She was sobbing quietly, crying for all of the lives they’d been unable to save.

They’d just destroyed another enemy craft during one of its ‘harvests’. However, its destruction had meant that the thousands of lives newly ‘absorbed’ by that very ship had been snuffed out in order to save millions.

The Force cried out at the loss all the same, and so did their souls.

Ben knew this type of pain intimately. He also realized that it was taking its toll on Rey. The past few days had been much the same; an emotional trial for them both. That, coupled with Rey’s exhaustion, meant that it was time for them to take a break.

“We need to rest, sweetheart,” Ben whispered raggedly. He knew how much Rey hated feeling vulnerable and how she felt like her own body was suddenly betraying her. He assured her that none of it was weakness; there was a purpose to it. It was crucial that she be sufficiently well fed and rested now.

Ignoring his bondmate’s protests that she could manage well enough on her own, Ben scooped her up in his arms just as he had the day they’d met. (Only this time she was awake and willing and threaded her arms around him so it felt to him like she weighed next to nothing.) His stubborn, willful, wonderful Rey. She wasn’t accustomed to leaning on anyone, he knew. They were both learning how to do just that. 

Closing his eyes, Ben concentrated on their destination and pulled them toward it through the Force. 

+++++

Lyda squeaked with surprise as Lord and Lady Solo materialized directly in front of where she and her partner stood faithfully guarding the doors to the former Supreme Leader’s chambers on the Finalizer.

Commander Finn had said to expect them at some point during the next few days, but surely having them turn up like this was enough to startle anyone! Didn’t they even need a ship to zoom around in anymore? Skywalkers, indeed. Even if the name was technically Solo. 

Lyda thought she saw the corner of Lord Solo’s mouth tilt up at the corner for a moment, almost as though he’d read her mind and found that thought amusing.

She quickly moved to key open the doors to the chamber so that Lord Solo could enter without setting his wife down. 

Rather gallant of him, she thought to herself. Did the man ever stop looking heroic anymore? They both seemed very weary, so the capable Lyda wasted no time before ordering them suitable refreshments. 

Ben set Rey down on his bed—-their bed, now, he realized—and immediately decided to draw her a warm bath.

It would do her good; he’d discovered just how much she loved water when they’d visited some of Naboo’s famed waterfalls during their brief stay at Varykino. Earlier than that, actually—he thought back to the delight he’d seen on her face when rain and sea spray had splashed his desert rose during one of their earliest Force connections. The time he’d agreed with her that he was a monster. Before she’d ever called him by his name.

It already felt like a lifetime ago.

After a relaxing bath and a good meal, both were ready to sleep.

Anything else could wait, the exhausted pair smiled to each other. 

Ben curled around Rey protectively, lacing their fingers together and resting them gently on Rey’s still-flat abdomen. It wouldn’t stay that way much longer. They wove their minds together fully and reached out to feel the wonder of connecting with what felt like twin stars beneath their joined hands. 

“We can do this, Rey. We will do this for them.”

Ben’s whisper of reassurance wrapped around her as warmly as his embrace, and Rey drifted off to sleep.

+++++

Admiral Peavey stepped onto the bridge and froze. They’d been forewarned, of course. The entire bridge crew had been, and by now every person on the ship probably knew that actual Force ghosts would be joining forces with them for this fight. (Incidentally, the entire fleet had been told the truth of Darth Vader/Anakin and Luke Skywalker thanks to a surprisingly entertaining amateur holovid narrated by Admiral Peavey himself!)

Nevertheless, the sight of three Skywalkers standing side by side at the viewport overlooking the Finalizer’s mighty prow was a sight to behold.

Would anyone witnessing this ever forget it? For two of them were actually ghosts in the Force, the shimmering figures of the legendary Luke and Anakin Skywalker flanking the very solid, very dark figure of their truly remarkable, and still quite mortal, Lord Solo. 

Peavey found he had to smile. All three men had identical stances—ramrod straight, hands clasped behind their backs, legs slightly apart and heads held high, gazing out at the stars like they somehow owned them.

Skywalkers. Aptly named, he mused. He’d heard the report of how Lord Solo and Lady Rey had arrived a few hours ago. Without the need of a ship.

Skywalking, indeed.

It was one thing for a Force ghost to manage appearing and disappearing like that. A ghost was a ghost, after all! (Whatever a ghost was?) But for living people to do the same... 

Peavey gave his head a quick shake. Amazing what this old brain of his had needed to wrap itself around in such short order.

He remained silent, all of his attention focused on the scene before him.

It felt like the entire bridge crew held its breath as the three figures at the viewport pointed toward the odd-looking ship in the distance and hurled the enemy into the heart of the nearest star.

How could they lose?


	29. Chapter 29

+++++

How could they win?

Rey rolled over to face the viewport that spanned the length of the bedchamber. Lying enveloped in sheets so soft they seemed to kiss her skin wherever they touched it, she watched the last few black specks plunge deep into the heart of the star chosen for their demise.

All enemy ships presently within their grasp had been vanquished. Ben had sensed the moment she’d awakened. He was coming to her now that they were out of danger for the moment.

The instant the final ship had met its end, Rey had felt a powerful surge of relief and jubilation course through the thousands of beings aboard the Finalizer.

Of course the crew felt triumphant; watching her husband and two incredibly powerful Skywalker Force ghosts toss gigantic alien ships around like childrens’ playthings was awe inspiring. Anyone oblivious to the scale of the menace they faced would feel encouraged at the sight of such dazzling power.

The rest of the galaxy was just that—oblivious, and by necessity. Truly understanding the threat they faced would launch billions upon billions of beings into a frenzied, panicked chaos that would serve no purpose and entirely remove the flickering flame that was hope. In this instance, protecting life meant sheltering it from the enormity of the odds stacked against it.

In what felt like a heartbeat Ben came striding through the doorway, his powerful arms crushing her comfortingly against his chest, his eyes burning into hers with their familiar intensity.

Their fingers tangled in each others’ hair at once as they reached for one another, both wise enough to realize that such moments would become rare and precious as their desperate battle grew more perilous. 

 

+++++

 

Seven star systems away, Finn shook his head in disbelief as he issued final orders to the officers overseeing the mass evacuation of the planet they had predicted would become their adversary’s next target.

Their enemy was an ancient evil, one that was the antithesis of the Force and stripped all life from its victims and mysteriously converted it into some sort of fuel to power its ever-growing fleet of monstrous ships.

Finn smiled grimly as his transport lifted off. These souls, nearly a billion of them, would not become fodder for the green glow of the enemy’s ‘harvest’. At least, not yet. Finn commed Commander Kaydel Connix of the New Galactic Alliance. “The last transports are away. All fighters can disengage!”

Against all odds, the Galactic Alliance had scrambled enough vessels to evacuate an entire planet.

It wouldn’t be enough. Several more fell prey to the grim harvest even as this world was saved.

 

+++++

 

Poe Dameron whooped in delight as he and Black Squadron took out what appeared to be the last remaining cannons belonging to the enemy craft hovering so menacingly above the planet the Alliance had just successfully evacuated.

The moment he received the order to disengage the bulbous horror that was the enemy ship, Poe sent his squadrons of TIEs and X-wings back to the safety of the Luke Skywalker and the Princess of Alderaan, both of which were considered a safe distance from the action. Risking more lives than strictly necessary by putting them within potential range of what could so quickly produce that dreaded green glow was foolhardy.

The Falcon was included in the order to disengage; Lando Calrissian had once more come out of retirement to join Chewbacca and Nien Nunb aboard the legendary freighter. Chewie had made for Naboo and the Falcon immediately after hearing talk of Poe’s speech.

 

Suddenly, Poe spotted what appeared to him to be an anomaly on the hull of the unusual ship’s surface. Was it a potential vulnerability? Those were in dismayingly short supply.

“I’m going to check something out”, Poe commed the Falcon.

Ignoring Calrissian’s advice to let the unfamiliar enemy ship well enough alone, Poe armed his proton torpedoes and sent his sleek X-wing skimming dangerously close to the strange ship’s irregular surface. He meant to fire on that odd looking spot before disengaging.

“Green means GO!” hollered Lando in warning as an emerald glow began radiating from within the very irregularity Poe Dameron was targeting.

Everyone knew perfectly well by now what that glow signified. The strange ship was entering ‘harvest’ mode, and the only life within range was aboard a small freighter and an even smaller starfighter. Immediate retreat was imperative, possibly even futile at this stage.

“Get out of there, Dameron!” Lando shouted, as he and Chewie scrambled to launch the Falcon into hyperspace and away from the menace before them.

The Falcon shot to safety as Poe Dameron, undeterred by the frantic warning, blindly fired his torpedoes toward a target that had become completely obscured by the sickly greenish light emanating from it.

The green glow enveloped his X-wing, and the last sound Poe heard was BB-8 screeching in alarm as his sensors registered Poe Dameron somehow dematerializing directly out of his X-wing’s cockpit.

As the fighter careened forward in the emerald haze, BB-8 hastily assumed control of it so as to avoid colliding with the enemy ship.

Crack shot that he was, Poe had actually managed to hit his intended target after all. BB-8’s sensors now registered a series of explosions within the grotesque hulk of the enormous enemy ship.

He ascertained that the strange craft was in danger of complete destruction, so he manoeuvred the small fighter he now piloted away from the danger zone with as much haste as he could manage.

The small droid whistled forlornly; Poe Dameron was gone, of that there was no doubt. Exactly how that had transpired defied the logic of his programming.

Devastated, BB-8 piloted Poe Dameron’s pride and joy, its cockpit empty, all the way to the safety of the Princess of Alderaan—where a shattered Kaydel Connix was already waiting.


	30. Chapter 30

“Tell her, you must not! Distract her, it will, and at a critical time for us all. Vulnerable, her emotions may make her, and he along with her when he senses her thoughts in turmoil!” Yoda chastised his glowering Sith counterpart as they stood together on the barren expanse of Jakku’s Plaintive Hand Plateau.

Palpatine, loathed former Emperor and architect of so much that had been pure evil, had convinced the Force to allow him to reach the corporeal world and join the monumental struggle against a common enemy so powerful it could strip the galaxy of life itself, right down to the tiniest microbes. In doing so, it threatened even the power of the Force.

Palpatine had railed against remaining in the netherworld of the Force once he’d learned of the pathway to the corporeal world. The Force had granted him his wish; he would endure excruciating pain in the process, but that he was willing to suffer. Selflessness was the ticket, so the Force had complied—so great was his desire to keep Rey of Jakku safe.

“Much selfishness in your selflessness, there is!” Yoda grumbled, clearly not trusting his newly luminous companion to hold his tongue when it counted as to his one and only genuine motivation in this fight.

“With young Solo, found belonging Rey has. Knows she does, that her parents are dead. If the Force wills it, you and Obi-wan may yet have opportunity to tell her the truth of the deeper roots of her heritage. For now, protect her we must. And that is all.”

For Rey and Ben were vulnerable to the enemy’s harvesting beams as none of the Force ghosts were. The bondmates had been granted powers far beyond those of the host of Force ghosts combined, but their mortality was their Achilles’ heel in the struggle ahead.

When the trap for their foe was sprung here on this windswept plateau, the spirits strong enough to transcend to the corporeal realm would focus their energies on sheltering the Solos as they drew the enemy into it.

Palpatine and Yoda stared at each other in uncomfortable silence. Theirs was an uneasy truce. Soon it would be dawn, and time for a sunrise they hoped would bring them the opportunity they sought.

 

+++++

 

This time, the green glow appeared without warning.

The enemy had seemingly learned the folly of telegraphing its intentions by disrupting communications within a given sector before striking. Not that it had faced much in the way of opposition in its steady march through the fringes of the Outer Rim.

Unexpectedly, it had just reached all the way to the Core. Naboo, teeming with life, and the seat of the galaxy’s fledgling government, was its next victim.

 

Queen Cassiana did not hesitate, and neither did the Jedi and Sith ghosts standing on either side of her as they watched from a balcony while the horizon in the distance turned the eerie glow they’d all been hoping never to see.

At her command, Obi-wan, Qui-gon, Darth Bane and Sorzus Syn rushed to confront the foe that had begun harvesting Naboo’s life less than a hundred kilometres away. The courtly Sorzus Syn swept her an astonishingly elegant bow in the style of another age before departing with the others.

No matter that they had been assigned to protect the leadership of the New Alliance itself; as far as any of them were concerned, the threat had arrived and needed to be confronted.

 

From her vantage point the Queen could see that panic had set in on the streets below. They were already thronged with frightened citizens despite the best efforts of security forces to maintain calm and order. 

Avani sincerely hoped that the spirits of the four formidable Force masters would be sufficiently powerful to halt the alien menace in its tracks. The green glow in the distance appeared to be dissipating, but not especially quickly.

Not even the Super Star Destroyer and the home fleet above would be of much use now that the green glow was present, she knew. They were too close to the enemy and were no doubt striving to get a safe distance away so as to avoid becoming victims themselves. They would try and strike from a safe distance, although as far as they knew the enemy was invulnerable once that deadly green glow appeared. She hoped they hadn’t already been harvested. There was no way the enemy would have missed the presence of those ships once they’d approached the planet itself.

Most starships were being urged to jump from the system entirely, and those planetside would be following the emergency evacuation protocols put into place days ago. The rest of the government was already being herded through secret passageways to the spaceport and to safety, she hoped.

As much of the populace that could be evacuated would be; it had all had been as well organized as possible days ago. She knew Naboo’s security forces were second to none and would perform as well as any in the galaxy even in the face of the horror so near the capital.

There was quite literally nothing for her to do. 

She was head of the New Galactic Alliance, but she was also elected Queen of Naboo. Since not all of her people could be safely evacuated, she also meant to stay. 

Which was why she had remained on the balcony, so highly visible to any citizens who cared to look up.

 

The Queen heard the people in the streets screaming before she realized why. 

Nine bulbous enemy starships had just come out of hyperspace directly above the Royal palace.

The Force wielders originally meant as her protection were already occupied. They had certainly sent word of the surprise attack on Naboo to the other Force ghosts through whatever mysterious channel they had available to them, but she knew the grand plan to entrap the bulk of the enemy was well underway. No help would be forthcoming.

 

Alone on the balcony, Avani lifted her chin and stared at their doom.


	31. Chapter 31

From the idyllic peace of the secluded palace garden she had made her own since having taken up residence in Theed, Maz Kanata looked up as she sensed them in the Force. The nine monstrosities loomed over the palace itself, almost as if they knew its symbolic importance.

Maz turned to look at the young boy beside her, his eyes as round as saucers and his gaze riveted upon the unfamiliar sight overhead. She had hoped to have more time with the first student she had taken in over a thousand years. 

No one but Ben and Rey had any idea of this boy’s staggering potential in the Force, which was just as Maz preferred it. Finn, Rose and the others who had felt responsible for him were simply grateful the restless lad had finally taken to someone. Unlike the young boy and girl who had been rescued along with him from Canto Bight, he had not settled easily into school and to helping out in the palace stables. Maz knew why; the Force was roiling and the sensitive former slave child could feel its powerful, unsettling undercurrents.

Everyone else probably assumed she had taken him under her wing to tutor him in art, music, antiques and literature, which was logical enough given her reputation. The boy did demonstrate remarkable aptitude in music. But his other abilities were even more significant, and she had taken it upon herself to begin to hone them.

“It is time, Temiri. Reach out, just as we have before. We will do this together, you and I.”

Maz Kanata and the former slave child Temiri allowed the Force to course through them and allow them to seize hold of one of the enemy ships.

As one, they closed their fists and began to crush the ungainly behemoth above them. Maz knew full well that she and this incredibly gifted child could succeed in destroying that ship.

The trouble was, there were still eight others.

 

+++++

 

Avani watched closely as one of the strange ships overhead appeared to drift out of formation with the others. She could also see the green glow on the horizon continuing to diminish slightly. Did that mean that the team of Force wielders was winning? Or had the harvesting come to an end for some different reason?

If the Jedi and Sith were succeeding, would they manage to halt that threat and return to Theed in time?

TIE fighters were swarming the eight ships not being crushed by whatever or whoever appeared to be affecting that ninth ship. 

The lone star destroyer still in the system was firing upon two of the other eight alien vessels but had yet to appear effective.

 

Then the dreaded green glow began emanating from the alien ship nearest the star destroyer. Within moments, the mighty capital ship was enveloped. It would soon be adrift in the sky overhead.

 

Refusing to meet her probable destiny without putting up a fight, Avani whirled and raced through the nearest doorway in search of a blaster or whatever else she could get her hands on. She knew she was a good shot, and damned if she was going to meet her end as placidly as a lamb being led to the slaughter even if the enemy was unreachable in the sky.

She dashed into the corridor only to collide with a wall. A very solidly muscled chest of a wall, complete with strong hands that reached out to steady her before she stumbled at the unexpected impact. The young queen’s eyes met those of an incredibly vivid blue before the man they belonged to dropped to one knee before her.

As did the five other figures that had trailed him to the terrace. All six men, uniformly clothed in terribly bedraggled black clothing, had taken a knee before her. The one she’d just slammed into kept his gaze fixed on hers even as another, older man addressed her.

“We are the Knights of Ren. We were advised we’d find you here. We need access to the highest vantage point in the palace at once.”

Avani nodded, wordlessly turning and racing down another corridor before leading them to a narrow servant’s stairwell that was the shortest route to their new destination.

She was surprisingly quick, thought the blue-eyed Knight, by far the youngest and fleetest of his fellows. He kept up to her without any difficulty but the same could not be said for the rest of the Knights of Ren. 

Not one to stand on ceremony given the circumstances, Avani shouted a question over her shoulder to the startlingly handsome young blue-eyed Knight as they ascended the narrow stone staircase. (Surely he couldn’t be much older than herself? She was seventeen, nearly eighteen...that she could even be thinking such thoughts in the middle of a crisis!)

“Where did you come from?” 

“From a moon called Bogan. In the Deep Core,” his response echoed in the stairwell over the pounding of everyone’s feet.

“But how?”

“Through a Force Gate!”

Avani’s eyes widened in amazement, and she leaned her head against the cool stone of the wall behind her to look up at him as they waited for the rest of the party to ascend the staircase.

“A Force Gate? Truly?”

He laughed at his recollection of the experience, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. “It was incredible, really it was. Ben and Rey made both of the Gates we used. One from Bogan to Tython, and the second from Tython to Naboo. Only there was a Bendu who helped us enter that one. I guess you could call him...a gatekeeper. It was amazing! Did they tell you about the Gates?”

 

She nodded, “They didn’t refer to them as gates, exactly. It was an awfully convoluted explanation, rather beyond my understanding!” She raised an eyebrow at the recollection.

He laughed good naturedly before wryly acknowledging that the Gates were probably beyond just about everyone’s comprehension, including his. Which was why no one had ever heard of such a thing before.

They had reached the highest point in the palace by now, the highest point in all of Theed.

 

Avani furrowed her brow as the others caught up to them.“This is surreal.”

The handsome young stranger immediately let go of the small hand that had somehow found its way into his own at some point. His eyes widened in horror at the sudden realization of what he’d been doing, not realizing that hadn’t been what she’d been referring to at all.

“Forgive me, your Grace!”

He backed away in dismay at his inexcusable faux pas, relieved he could hide his embarrassment by turning to the balustrade with the other Knights and preparing to do battle with the enemy.

How had that even happened? The most beautiful girl he’d ever laid eyes on (not that he’d seen many girls at all given the life he’d led) was a Queen.

What had he been doing, holding her hand, and within minutes of meeting her? He didn’t even know her name.

The six Knights of Ren looked up at the sky over Theed. Their adversary awaited, although no green glow had yet descended upon the city itself.

Just before he stretched out his arm as the others were about to, the golden haired Knight, a decade younger than the rest, felt a light touch at his elbow. 

“Who are you? I’m Avani.” The young Queen was whispering to him quietly enough the others wouldn’t hear unless they’d strained to. Which they hadn’t, focussed as they were on the task ahead.

“I’m Marak,” he replied softly, surprised by her sudden closeness.

He couldn’t believe it when the diminutive Queen stood up on tiptoe and kissed his totally unsuspecting lips, whispering:

“Thank you, Marak of Ren, for what you have come to do. May the Force be with you.”

 

Avani Naberrie, Queen of Naboo, remained with the Knights of Ren as they stood together against the alien menace threatening Theed.

 

+++++

 

 

Ben and Rey stood together on the Plaintive Hand Plateau.

The past few hours had seen them hopscotching from system to system in a kind of dance, teasing the enemy with incredibly powerful bursts of the Force that seemed to attract it like moths drawn to a flame.

Ben recalled the first time he’d seen Rey by the firelight’s glow. He pressed his forehead to hers and they sent each other all that they were feeling.

 

It was almost upon them now, the full might of their enemy. Theirs was a desperate gamble in many ways, but no other path had presented itself. They had trusted in the Force to guide them this far, and now it felt like the Force itself was trusting them. 

Yoda and Palpatine stood a short distance away, and Anakin and Luke were about to join them from aboard the Finalizer.

No help would come from Naboo; the Force was swirling as the conflict raged there.

Rey had chosen Jakku as the site of this final standoff. Remote, sparsely populated—ideal for their purposes. The last of its citizens actually willing to evacuate had just left its atmosphere. 

Little did Rey realize that long, long ago, Palpatine himself had become convinced that this very plateau would someday become the setting for something of incredible significance to the Force.

How right he had been.

 

++++++

 

 

Masses of enemy ships teemed above Jakku’s Plaintive Hand Plateau, drawn to the staggering Force energy that Rey, Ben and the combined might of the Force ghosts were projecting from this single point in the galaxy.

Ben and Rey, their thoughts and souls entwined completely, drew together for one last mortal embrace. 

They were well aware their bodies might not survive the battle to come.

But they would always be together in the Force.

If they succeeded.

 

+++++


	32. Chapter 32

Admiral Edrison Peavey of the New Galactic Alliance stared out the viewport of the Finalizer’s bridge, hands clasped behind his back.

The current situation didn’t sit well with him at all.

He had just ordered the evacuation of the absurdly stubborn inhabitants of Jakku who’d actually agreed to leave, but that had been seen to from afar. The convoy of transports ferrying them to relative safety was well on its way thanks to Commander Finn’s competence, even if setting foot on that planet again had apparently not been terribly high on the former Stormtrooper’s wish list.

Now, Peavey’s only orders consisted of keeping the Finalizer and the rest of the fleet as far from Jakku as possible.

 

And something was wrong.

Neither Skywalker had felt compelled to share the nature of the difficulty with him either, uncharacteristic of them. Both had been rather talkative since materializing onboard. In truth, they were an entertaining pair and the mood of the bridge had relaxed significantly since they’d taken to spending all of their time there. Crew members suddenly felt free enough to crack the odd joke, himself included.

A far cry from the days of General Hux, indeed. (General Hugs! He smirked at the recollection.)

Neither Force ghost had answered him when he’d inquired as to the status of Naboo after contact had been lost with Theed.

Hadn’t the four Force ghosts been stationed on Naboo to act as emergency contacts in precisely this scenario? If so, why was no information forthcoming?

 

As a Core world far removed from the theatre of battle, Naboo was very distant from any of the systems that had already become targets of the enemy.

The likelihood of its being under attack was remote.

But Theed and the Star Destroyer assigned to protect it had suddenly become incommunicado, and Peavey feared the worst.

 

The Skywalkers had left abruptly without answering him—how rude! Unless, of course, they intended to protect the entire fleet for the time being by keeping them all in ignorance...which struck Peavey as a very Skywalker thing to do...

 

He understood that to be anywhere near Jakku at this time would be disastrous; Lord Solo had made that crystal clear.

But he hadn’t mentioned anything about avoiding Naboo, which was where the Queen and the Council of the New Galactic Alliance was currently based. Technically, he took his orders from them...and they could not be reached.

 

Most of the fleet was engaged in evacuating those planets most at risk of being targeted next, or attempting to ambush the enemy whenever possible. However, the Finalizer itself was quite near Naboo, as were the Luke Skywalker and the Princess of Alderaan.

As far as Peavey was concerned, floating around in space with a Star Destroyer was a colossal waste of firepower.

“Set course for Naboo!”

 

+++++

 

 

Maz sensed the Knights in the Force the moment they joined the fight. They were powerful, though not as strong as she and young Temiri.

The Jedi and Sith ghosts were still fighting to halt the enemy hundreds of kilometres away. While Maz was relieved the Knights had arrived in the city, she had sensed enough of their powers to have cause to doubt that their combined efforts would be enough to vanquish all of the enemy hovering over Theed before it began its sinister harvest.

 

Then, she and everyone else saw the Star Destroyer over the city lurch. It had just been harvested by the alien ship closest to it.

 

If a ship that size crashed into Naboo’s surface, the effect would be catastrophic.

Maz blinked her eyes behind her thick goggles, centering herself in the Force. “Temiri, we are going to catch that Star Destroyer when we finish this.”

 

+++++

 

Admiral Wexley reached Naboo first, taking quick stock of the situation. Several alien ships were in harvest mode, he noted, although these were far from Theed and appeared to have their deadly glow contained in some fashion, likely by the Force users who’d been meant as Naboo’s protection.

Their own orders had been to avoid any enemy ships displaying the green glow.

 

However, new data retrieved from Poe Dameron’s BB unit by Commander Connix and analyzed by Rose Tico indicated that the glow did not in fact render the ships invulnerable.

It simply made them too dangerous to approach at close range. 

But they were desperate.

 

+++++

 

The eerily vacant Star Destroyer over Naboo began to tilt on its axis, literally falling from the sky.

Everyone saw it. The Knights saw it, struggling as they were with keeping the enemy ships contained for the moment in some kind of giant bubble.

 

Maz and Temiri saw it, too. They had just finished crushing the enemy ship they’d seized and had flung the debris so far out of the atmosphere they’d rendered it harmless. 

 

At that moment, they spotted the Luke Skywalker, the Princess of Alderaan and the Finalizer coming out of hyperspace just beyond the enemy ships.

 

Avani could see the Knights of Ren straining to maintain their tenuous hold on the enemy. The bubble around those eight ships was weakening visibly; the six Knights did not have the strength to keep their foe contained for much longer.

 

 

Everything happened at once.

The containment bubble disintegrated, freeing the eight deadly alien ships as the Knights collapsed in exhaustion.

The dead Star destroyer plummeted toward the planet’s surface as Maz and Temiri prepared to seize hold of it with the Force.

The twinned tractor beams of the Luke Skywalker and the Princess of Alderaan snatched the falling giant at the same moment Maz and Temiri did, preventing it from raining chaos onto the citizens of Theed.

 

Countless TIEs and X-wings swarmed the enemy ships alongside the Millennium Falcon, which was once again crewed by Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian and Nien Nunb. Maz’s plucky armada did the same, Ransolm Casterfo’s elite fighter squadron leading their way.

The dreaded green glow began radiating from distinct points on each of the remaining alien ships while starfighters raced toward them, firing at those growing, glowing spots in the frantic hope they’d hit those vulnerable points before it was too late for them all.

 

The Finalizer’s tractor beam joined the others and proceeded to drag its lifeless counterpart directly into two of the enemy vessels, causing all three to explode in a strange greenish blast.

As that wreckage plunged to the surface, Maz and Temiri gathered it and flung it heavenward, somehow avoiding hitting any other ships.

That left six enemy vessels, two of which were promptly seized by three Knights each and flung into each other with such great force that they exploded. Any starfighters unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity were immediately obliterated.

 

Chewie roared to Lando and the Sullustan, knowing full well the consequences of skimming so close to an alien ship once its green glow appeared. Their shots hit their intended target and yet another ship exploded in its entirety.

 

The green glow emanating from the remaining trio of enemy ships began swelling ominously.

Three ships. Three enemy craft. Three shots.

Admiral Peavey ordered all three capital ships of the New Alliance to target those three remaining vessels, all of which were about to enter full harvest mode.

Missing would mean carnage in the city below as powerful turbolasers ripped into the heart of it.

Not firing at all would see millions dead within minutes.

 

“Fire!”

 

+++++

 

Torrents of rain lashed the barren plateau of the Plaintive Hand. The green glow the galaxy had come to dread now filled the Jakku sky as far as the eye could see. 

Ben and Rey had found each other once more after setting their Force trap, a blessing they hadn’t expected. Now the two, fragile in their mortality, were being sheltered from the enemy’s onslaught by the monumental efforts of the four most powerful Force ghosts the galaxy had ever known. The bondmates had lured the enemy to this place, set the trap, and opened its jaws wide. Now all that remained was one final step.

Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Yoda and Palpatine stood in a circle around them like the four points of a compass, holding the concentrated power of the enemy at bay.

Rain coursed in rivulets down their faces and drenched their clothing as the bondmates clung to each other.

“This is where I leave you,” Ben whispered hoarsely over the rumble of thunder booming all around them. They cradled each others’ faces as the ground shuddered beneath them, each committing to memory a touch they might never feel again. Ben tucked a strand of hair behind Rey’s ear as they stood in the driving rain. 

”I need to know that you’ll be safe—you, and them.” His mind brushed against the precious consciousnesses they’d created together. “ If I don’t have at least the hope of that, I won’t have the strength to do this, Rey.”

She nodded mutely, pressing her forehead against his as he lowered it. She couldn’t have followed him even if he’d been able to explain how to, they both knew. She was the beacon to light his way home again, just as he was the one destined to plunge into the darkness only he knew so well. Dark matter, dark energy, forces that pulsed through the galaxy yet were impossible to see. The universe itself could not exist without them, and no other could do what Ben Solo meant to now. He was like the sun in that darkness, the light none of them could do without.

“I’ll come back to you, and to them.” There was no death, they both knew, not as long as there was the Force. They could never be separated as long as it existed, and that was what they fought for. 

“Close your eyes, Rey.” He knew she couldn’t bear to watch him leave any more than he could look at her while he did it.

“I’ll come back for you, sweetheart.” 

He brushed her lips with a kiss, and with that Ben Solo plunged into the darkness between space and time. 

+++++


	33. Epilogue: Five Standard Years Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all of you for having joined me on this little journey of the imagination! You have been wonderfully supportive and generous with your compliments. 
> 
> You’ve made dipping my toe into the world of fanfic writing a lot of fun!

+++++

 

“Not planning on letting that see the light of day at Maz’s next salon, I hope?”

Avani, who’d been perched on the edge of Ben’s antique desk, quirked an eyebrow at the solemn face of the imposing man seated at it. She’d been eyeing one of several papers scattered all over it. The doors leading to the balcony were wide open as usual, letting in the pleasantly cool evening air.

Avani smiled into his dark eyes affectionately, even as he glowered—or rather, pretended to glower—at her. She knew she looked well in her carefully chosen gown of the purest white. White would stand out for the people today, she well knew. Especially over the HoloNet broadcast. It had been five standard years since That Day, after all. She knew how little he cared for its commemoration, even as he understood the significance of such pageantry.

 

She noted how regal and impressive he looked in the midnight blue tunic he’d chosen for the occasion; as always, Leia Organa’s son had impeccable taste. Elegant silvery embroidery defined the collar and cuffs of the tunic he wore, and his belt buckle featured a stylized, elongated starburst within twin circles. He himself had designed it as the emblem of the New Galactic Alliance.

Unlike her, he had nothing to do with the New Alliance in any official capacity. He’d insisted on that.

Twice in his life Ben Solo had walked away from the reins of power, holding firm to his belief that those strong with the Force belonged far, far from galactic government or power of any other sort. He’d devoted himself to scholarship and to the arts, just as nearly all of the Knights of Ren had chosen medicine and healing. He’d only consented to being named Prince—and eventually, King—of Alderaan after a doggedly persistent campaign launched by the Alderaanian diaspora that had begun after the Final Battle and had become even more fervent after the events of That Day. Even that position was largely symbolic.

That Day. That was Ben’s own name for the Day of Galactic Victory, so declared after he and Rey had led the monumental effort to rid the galaxy of the alien menace that had threatened to strip it of life itself.

 

He’d given them back a planet That Day, the Alderaanians. Alderaan itself had been miraculously recreated, and Ben Solo had been responsible. The planet had appeared exactly where it had originally been, sans all signs of human habitation but otherwise just as it had been long before the first Death Star had ever blown it up. With one notable exception: for some reason, it now had a moon.

The entire Hosnian system had been restored; again, it was without all humanoid life but otherwise ecologically identical to what it had always been. The planets devoured by the glowing green menace had been similarly healed, just as he and Rey had restored Jakku to a verdant world of lush forests, sparkling waterfalls and millions of lakes—all that it had once been in an age long before whatever cataclysm had reduced it to a barren, sun-scortched desert wasteland.

Jakku. Home of his Scavenger.

 

Avani sighed. She understood, or thought she might. There would never truly be anyone but Rey for Ben Solo. There never could be; that much had been obvious the day she’d first set eyes on them together. What little the galaxy knew of their Force connection was already the stuff of legend.

“I was right, wasn’t I? It’s dreadful, it really is. This hopelessly saccharine excuse for poetry. All written to her, of course. To Rey. I predicted it even then, do you remember?” Who’d have thought the saviour of the galaxy could be such a nauseatingly sentimental poet, at least when Rey Solo was his subject! It was all very....sweet.

 

“Mmm.”

“At least you’ve made it look pretty.” She’d give him that much credit; his penmanship was absolutely exquisite. She’d never seen its equal.

“Mmm.”

“Is it my imagination, or were you slightly more articulate the day we met?” 

“Mmmhmm.” Ben smiled at her fondly, but had begun sorting loose pages into piles, intent on getting them out of sight as quickly as possible. He knew what was coming.

 

“Have you been working on it at all? ‘That Day’, by Ben Solo. I trust you’ll come up with a better title, am I right? Edrison has been dying to get you to at least sit down for an interview, you know it!”

Edrison Peavey had become something of a HoloNet celebrity, famous for his documentaries featuring Force ghosts and the insights into galactic history they could provide. Edrison was a good friend, but Ben had no wish to speak of those events with anyone but Rey. Which was why he had just buried the pages he’d written about them, along with his admittedly cheesy poetry.

“Did you see the series with Sorzus Syn? ‘Birth of the Sith’. It was riveting!”

“Not happening.” Quietly, firmly stated.

 

She’d known that would be his response, of course. She and the rest of the galaxy would likely remain forever in ignorance of what exactly had transpired. She recalled him as he’d been the day they’d met—so dark, so intense, so purposeful. And he and Rey had gone on to do what had seemed impossible at the time. She reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t tense as he would have years ago.

 

Ben was hastily screwing caps onto bottles as quickly as he could. He could sense exactly what was about to happen.

 

 

 

“Papa! Is it time yet? Is it?”

 

Sure enough, the door to the study burst open and twin four-year-old bundles of energy launched themselves into their father’s orbit with all the enthusiasm children allowed to stay up so far past their bedtime could muster. 

Pens and papers scattered, and one unfortunately uncapped bottle of ink was sent flying over the stack of papers beside it. 

Ben froze the ink in midair, neatly returning it to its bottle and somehow managing to secure its cap while being half-strangled by his overly enthusiast offspring.

 

(Ooh, Papa used the Force!) His dark haired, dark eyed son crowed through the Force.

Papa never used the Force! Or hardly ever.

(That stuff must’ve been pretty important then!) His sister scolded her twin.

(I didn’t mean to, I didn’t even see it!) Her brother scowled in her direction, balling his fists at his sides.

(If you’d wrecked your good clothes then I bet they wouldn’t have even let you watch tonight!)

 

(Neither one of you is in trouble for anything other than forgetting that not everyone here can hear you when you talk in your heads! It’s not polite.) Their father gently chided them with his own inside-the-head voice. He knew that they were overexcited as well as overtired; typically they were not much for squabbling.

 

Young Prince Han Anakin Organa Solo looked over at Avani affectionately, giving her an enthusiastic hug when she bent down to greet him. He thought she looked just like an angel in that nice white dress. She was too busy to visit very often, but she always made sure to be on Alderaan for this day, of all days. Which was one reason it was one of his favourites.

 

His sister took full advantage of having her father’s undivided attention for a moment. “Papa, do you like my dress? It matches Mama’s!” Leia Padme Organa Solo preened as only a four-year-old thrilled to be dressed like a princess could have. She was as fair as her brother was dark, with eyes as blue as the sea and hair the same gold as a young Luke Skywalker’s.

Happy with Ben’s response, she launched herself at Avani by way of greeting. Then she twirled around, showing off her pale blue finery to someone she figured would truly appreciate it.

 

Prince Han, oblivious to how perfectly his own ensemble matched the midnight blue of his father’s, was excitedly pestering his auntie with questions at the same time. 

“Will Marak spar with Papa?” (He sure hoped so; every time Mama and Papa did they ended up kissing each other. Gross. And then Threepio would say it was time to go for ‘lessons’. He figured his parents needed some lessons in ‘concentrating’, which was one of their math tutor’s favourite words as far as he was concerned. He didn’t exactly love math like Mama and Leia seemed to, but he was pretty sure he ‘concentrated’ on it a whole lot better than his parents did on their sparring.)

Their weapons were the only ones permitted on Alderaan by the King’s own decree. 

 

Ben felt his breath catch when Rey finally appeared in the doorway. Rose had apparently decided to do his wife’s hair for old time’s sake, even as she’d donned her own finery for tonight’s festivities. Chattering away had slowed the process down, it seemed. (He had no idea why it needed to; the two of them saw each other often. Rose taught at the University here in Aldera, her area of expertise being the advanced science of hyperspace tracking. Finn was head of Alderaan’s security forces. Their little girl was far too young to attend tonight.

 

In a pale blue gown of the stunning simplicity she always favoured, his Rey was a vision. He moved forward and swept her into his arms. She’d always been breathtaking to him, even in her scavenger’s rags. 

 

Avani smiled warmly as she greeted her dear friend in turn. Honestly, she thought to herself as she looked from the Queen of Alderaan to its King, even after all these years this pair had way of looking at each other that made it seem as though there was no one else in the universe, never mind the room!

(For the briefest of moments!)

“Mama, Auntie Avani says that Marak and the Knights are going to make dragons this year because this is our very first time watching and they know we both like dragons the best!”

“Auntie Avani, are you and Marak ever getting married? When I asked him at breakfast he said he wasn’t worthy. What’s worthy?”

“Is it true that Uncle Luke and Yoda’s are the funniest?”

“Did you know that Uncle Lando taught me two new card tricks at lunch?”

The young Prince and Princess of Alderaan were bursting with excitement at finally being considered old enough to be allowed to stay up and see the fireworks and Force-enhanced light show that marked the galaxy’s celebration of Galactic Victory Day, which always took place here on Alderaan.

It was Avani who’d conceived of it, of course. Not that spontaneous celebrations hadn’t broken out all across the galaxy the very day they’d all learned they were safe. She’d been the one who’d convinced Rey and Ben to allow for an annual commemoration of some sort. She’d felt the galaxy needed it and should always be reminded of all that it had nearly lost. 

They had agreed on a fireworks display over the lake in front of the Royal Palace. Ben and Rey had privately found the symbolism fitting, since the beauty of fireworks relied on the interplay of light and darkness.

The first of the annual celebrations had seen Avani, the Solos, Admirals Peavey and Wexley, Maz Kanata and Temiri Bagg all take their places on the palace’s grand balcony. They had been joined by the Knights of Ren, Finn and Rose, Chewie, Lando and Nien Nunb. Artoo, Threepio and BB-8 had also been included, along with Kaydel Connix and Ransolm Casterfo, who now held the office of First Senator.

The event had been broadcast over the HoloNet, naturally. 

To everyone’s surprise, halfway through the proceedings the entire host of Force ghosts who’d come to the galaxy’s aid in its time of crisis had materialized on the balcony beside their living counterparts. Yoda and Luke Skywalker had begun Force-enhancing the fireworks being launched by New Alliance armed forces, adding whimsical touches to an already dazzling display.

The perfect way to remind the galaxy that the Force didn’t have to be frightening. It was never meant to be. The Force ghosts had appeared every year since without fail, and the annual fireworks had become must-see viewing.

Not to mention somewhat competitive for the ghosts concerned! Temiri, Maz, Rey and the Knights of Ren also joined in year after year with varying degrees of enthusiasm and ability. Rey did not consider herself especially creative, but she was a good sport all the same.

Ben Solo was the only Force wielder who stood solemnly on the balcony year after year. 

“It’s time!” Little Princess Leia’s hand found that of her father and Prince Han reached for his mother’s as the family prepared to step out onto the balcony together. Ben glanced to Rey on his right as she set her left hand on his waiting arm. Where it belonged. He smiled at the sight of the iconic Chalcedony necklace encircling her neck, right where it belonged.

The roar of the crowd greeted the young family as they stepped out onto the grand balcony.

The twins made their way to the centre of the balcony just as they’d rehearsed, holding hands the entire time. All that the rest of the galaxy could see of them over the balustrade were their heads, but both waved to the crowd as dutifully as their parents. 

The crowd roared again when the beloved figure of the first Princess Leia of Alderaan materialized beside her son’s family. Leia had quickly learned how to become luminous shortly after That Day; her brother was fond of saying it was because she hadn’t wanted to miss any more excitement.

Thankfully all that passed for excitement these days consisted of telling her rather lively grandchildren bedtime stories.

A roar greeted each of the Force ghosts as they appeared, until Ben and Rey lifted their joined hands to signal the beginning of the fireworks. And Forceworks.

As the crowds and their own very excited children enjoyed the spectacular display in the night sky, Ben and Rey, minds fully entwined, reflected on the events that had led them to this day. How could they explain to anyone how Ben had plunged deep into the galaxy’s invisible darkness, sealing the enemy of the Force away for all eternity? Or how the brightness that was Rey had been the only way he’d navigated his way back at all? And nearly hadn’t?

Neither had the words for it yet although, sitting in his study at night, Ben had finally begun to try. Writing sappy poetry was the antidote to writing his own history, which also included his time enslaved by Snoke. He was determined that his children grow up learning as much of their family history as possible. It was a complicated saga on both sides, after all.

They looked down over the gathered throngs, realizing full well that they alone knew how much of the Force was actually ‘stored’ in the formation of this very planet. The Bendu had shown them what they might safely do with the overwhelming power the Force had decided to grant them. Among other things.

When a suitable space appeared in the night sky between two frolicking sea creatures Luke and Yoda had conjured, Rey reached out to write her children’s names in their favourite colours. The twins erupted with excitement when they saw that, thrilled to no end. 

Rey arched an eyebrow at her husband in silent challenge. (This is more your department than mine, wouldn’t you say? Ready to join the party, Solo?)

The grand finale had arrived, it seemed. Every Force user on the balcony was contributing something to the last moments of the display. Ben looked at the shining faces of his children, laughing with unbridled joy and clapping their hands as enthusiastically as anyone else in the crowd below.

They were children born into another age, he realized. 

The moment the sky was dark again, Ben smiled and proceeded to unleash the most spectacularly imaginative Force fireworks display anyone gathered had ever seen.

(Showing off, are we, your Royal Smugness?) Ben folded Rey tenderly under his chin and buried his nose in her hair as the twins continued shrieking at the last remnants of his unexpected display.

(You’re allowed to be happy, Ben Solo.)

And he was. 


	34. Epilogue II: A Return to Ahch-To

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Love is the answer to the darkness.”
> 
> ~”Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” novelization

+

 

The Lanai watched from a distance as the skyboat landed; the ship resembled another that had travelled here before.

The Outsiders who alighted looked about for a time before making their slow and winding ascent toward the temple they sought.

 

The young woman led the way, her long golden hair whipped about by the sea winds. Her twin, a tall, dark-haired young man, laughed out loud at the antics of a Porg that appeared to be seeking their attention.

 

The young ones paused for a moment when they reached the cavernous interior of the temple itself and silently regarded the mosaic of the Prime Jedi in its reflecting pool.

The powerful Force nexus just beyond them beckoned. The twins wasted no time making their way to it and seated themselves cross-legged so that they faced one another on the great stone.

The view was breathtaking, but not what they had come for. 

 

Soon, three kybers were hovering in the air between the seated pair. Before long these same crystals were housed within the weapons they were meant to burn at the hearts of; the slender central portion of a staff, and a saber’s hilt.

Ripples danced over the surface of the reflecting pool when the island trembled in response to the awesome power of Force as it flowed through the seated pair.

A pair who would never be forced to sever familial ties for the sake of a religion, and who would be equally free to acknowledge their love for anyone else should they ever be so blessed as to find it.

A pair who knew, just as the Prime Jedi must have, that there was no ‘dark side’, nor a ‘light’, that there was only the Force. 

A pair who recognized their role as keepers of balance. Jedi—for they were indeed Jedi, though not Jedi who feared the darkness.

A pair who understood that evil would always exist but that it could not be allowed to flourish.

They were guardians of balance, keepers of the flame.

 

The young pair smiled at each other and by unspoken agreement ignited their newly crafted weapons in perfect unison.

The saberstaff hissed to life, its deep, dark grey balanced by the brilliant white of its lightsaber counterpart. 

The Force hummed its approval.

 

 

 

+

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading along!
> 
> If you are at all interested, consider checking out my second crack at creative writing. It’s called ‘Untitled’, and not because I couldn’t think of another name for it. It’s basically what I’d love to see in Episode IX, and I think the ending is better than the one I cooked up here. Plus, my favourite new canon character plays a much larger than he does here, because I hadn’t read ‘Bloodline’ (or the new Thrawn books) before finishing this fic. I’ve made some edits to this story by popping his name in here and there, but that doesn’t really cut it for me.
> 
> (Speaking of that character, if you click on my username it’ll take you to some short fics featuring Ransolm Casterfo, all of which are inspired by Claudia Gray’s ‘Bloodline.’)
> 
> Thanks again for sticking with this little tale long enough to make it to the end!


End file.
